"Return from Armor Removal" is Yuan Biao's first film in 5 years since his 2016 cameo appearance in Hong Jinbao's self-directed action film "My Secret Agent Grandpa". If you are a fan of his films, you will be greatly saddened to see this movie, not only because the popular Hong Kong movie star is now unpopular and has very little role in the film, but also because he has appeared in the movie again, which is such an extremely mediocre and inferior action movie.
The film stars another Hong Kong star who became popular in the 1980s and 1990s, Lui Leung-wai, who plays Wu Wei, a veteran who, together with his wife Xu Zhilan (Xu Dongdong), braves the Jungle of Thailand to rescue "experimental products" imprisoned by pharmaceutical companies led by Zuo Manqing (Zhou Haimei). The company sampled the blood marrow of living people for experiments to develop a life-prolonging drug. Soon, Wu Wei and his wife are helped by the competitive hunter Jin Zi (Chu Xu) and his companions, and rescue the long-imprisoned undercover policeman Gao Tianming (Yuan Biao) from the lair of the trafficker Scorpion (Bo Huali Mogao Bischer), who provides "experimental products" for the pharmaceutical company.
Director Du Xiubin has served as an assistant action director in several Jackie Chan films, and his basic directing skills are very good, but he obviously lacks talent and has limited energy. The narrative of "Return from armor removal" is very straightforward and quite chaotic, making people feel like watching a shoddy 1990s Hong Kong film. The action scenes are also very conventional and rather tedious, interspersed with awkward scenes of characters yelling at the sky after losing their loved ones.
However, although the climactic action scene that takes place in the corridor at the end lacks a sense of design, it is still a little exciting, at least, Chu Xu, who is athletic and has a hundred hairs, makes people shine, and even steals the limelight of Lu Liangwei and Yuan Biao - although Lu Liangwei is tough, energetic and consistently gentle in the film, he is already 63 years old when he shoots this movie. Yuan Biao was completely undersized, and while everyone else was fighting desperately, the once-popular action star was clutching his stomach in pain.
The soundtrack of "Return from Armor Removal" is a collection of music from many well-produced Western films and TV series, such as "Lost In Battle" and "House of Sin", which further highlights how boring and tedious its storyline is.
Long story short: "Return from Armor Removal" is a mediocre low-budget action film that wastes the talent of Yuan Biao, who is rare today.