The Miracle Fighters is the latest Hong Kong martial arts film released from Eureka Entertainment, directed by the legendary Yuen Woo-ping. The film begins with a fairly dark sequence, where Ko Hung (Eddy Ko Hung), is brought before the Emperor for marrying a Han woman. The film is set during the Qing Dynasty, a time where it was forbidden for Manchu people and the Han Chinese to wed, and as such Ko is given an option, die along with his wife, or kill her and live. Ko disobeys his Emperor, and a fight breaks out in the throne room that sees his wife killed. In the ensuing combat Ko managed to take the young prince hostage, and uses him to escape. However, during the escape the young boy is accidentally killed.
Jumping forwards a couple of decades, Ko is now an older man, who has taken in an infant boy he found under a tree and raised him as his own, naming him Shu Gan, or 'Little Root' (Yuen Yat-Choh). Ko gave Shu Gan the jade necklace that belonged to the young prince, which makes Shu Gan a target when the royal sorcerer, Sorcerer Bat (Yuen Shun-Yi), discovers them. Sorcerer Bat believes that Shu Gan is the young prince, and even after learning the truth tries to pass him off as such in order to gain political advantage that he can then use to take over power. However, Shu Gan manages to escape from Sorcerer Bat, finding shelter with two Taoist priests, who agree to take him in to teach him martial arts and magic.
Despite the darker start with murder, kidnapping, and the death of a child, The Miracle Fighters very quickly descends into ridiculous comedy (and even the darker scenes in the film contain some frankly weird moments). The film is chiefly a comedy movie, one that often feels like it's embracing the fantasy genre just to be able to do the weirdest thing possible in order to get a laugh out of the audience. And it works pretty well. Not every gag landed with me, and there were times I felt a little lost at first until an explanation came a little later on, but I also suspect that's because in some cases I don't have the initial knowledge to understand the jokes. I think if you're more knowledgeable of Chinese history and mythology then certain things will absolutely land a lot better for you; which probably makes this a good film for fans of the genre.
Whilst the humour can sometimes be a little all over the place the action and stunt choreography is excellent. Because the film is also a fantasy movie it doesn't have to be restrained by the laws of physics, and there are some truly wonderful moments to be found here. Sorcerer Bat quite literally flies across the set with blade covered wings on his costume that he uses to zip around, as well as using as a weapon to try and slice Shu Gan to pieces.
There's another character who's a bizarre cursed child-thing who lives inside an urn, whose arms and legs pop out the side. He rolls and bounces around, attacking with a paper sword in a scene that must have been a lot of fun to put together. My personal favourite is the scene where several pieces of wood form together to make a dummy man our hero has to fight, complete with wooden block testicles. The Miracle Fighters will absolutely have at least one scene showcasing something you've never seen before.
Along with the film, the new Blu-ray includes a load of extra features to keep any film fan happy. The film comes with two full length audio commentaries, one with Asian film expert Frank Djeng, and the other with Arne Venema and Mike Leeder; which will be familiar to anyone who regularly watches Eureka's releases. Djeng does his regular thing of going into the making of the movie, the careers of the actors and crew, and will even go into detail explaining some of the things that non-Chinese viewers might not understand in order to give more context and understanding.
As with any of Djeng's commentaries, it feels like a must watch as he crams his time with insightful and useful facts that has the viewer coming away really feeling like you've learned something. Leeder and Venema, on the other hand, have a much more conversational approach, and chat throughout the film about the movie, as well as personal anecdotes that relate to it from their personal experiences working with members of the cast and crew.
There is also an archival interview with director Yuen Woo-ping, in which he talks about his career in general rather than the film specifically. There are also interviews with Fish Fong, and John Kreng. Alongside this is the original trailer, and a booklet that contains brand new writing about the movie.
The Miracle Fighters is a bizarre, almost fever dream-like movie, filled with weird set pieces, slapstick humour, high stakes, violence, magic, and a ton of snakes. If you're a fan of the genre it's definitely a movie that you're going to want to check out, and whilst it might not be the most normal of movies it's definitely both a memorable and entertaining one.
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