Director Yuen Woo-Ping’s (the man responsible for the furious (and gravity defying) fightin’ in 1999’s The Matrix) The Miracle Fighters contains a sequence where a flaming roast chicken, propelled by magic, sets a man’s entire ass on fire. You know you’re on board for this one my cats n’ creeps!
Getting down to brass tacks plot wise:
Royal Guardsman Kao has the balls to be a Manchu marrying a Han woman, which pisses of his ruler so greatly he tries to have him executed, so Kao beats feet with the kidnapped young prince in tow.
Well, Kao escapes, but the prince goes tits up… and while time passes the search for Kao never ends.
Eventually Kao, now joined by an orphan named Shu Gan (Yat-Chor Yuen) he has raised to adulthood, meets his demise at the hands of the villainous and opportunistic Sorcerer Bat (Shun-Yee Yuen)… but fortunately (although that may be a vast over-exaggeration), Shu is taken in by a constantly bickering old man (Ka-Yan Leung) and old woman (Cheung-Yan Yuen) who take him under their wings and teach him mystical (often delightfully ridiculous) fighting techniques.
That’s a good thing, as soon Shu must face Sorcerer Bat in a mystical, magic-packed, fighting tournament to the death!
One thing is for sure, The Miracle Fighters is out there man… way out there…
This is the type of fist n’ feet a-flyin’ flick that features such totally normal things as a man-child forced to grow up in a giant clay pot… a pot that his arms, legs, and head protrude from (and retreat into) like a turtle that’s adept at crazy martial arts fighting (I think there’s a multi-billon dollar franchise mixed up in there somewhere), a dude that oft-times appears as a cross between Sho’ Nuff and Gene Simmons (no make-up though, so don’t get too excited boils n’ ghouls), insane body configurations, deadly paper swords (and less deadly, but more delicious, noodles created from paper), more piss than one would expect, and an inordinate amount of beard stroking… and that’s just for starters!
One thing you can bet your ass on is that Yuen Woo-Ping brings slapstick and ass-kicking to the screen with equal aplomb, if not equal screen-time… but while everything comes to a head in the final act, the emphasis here is firmly in the humor department and it’s a family affair as well as much of the main cast is comprised of Yuen Woo-Ping’s acrobatic brothers who are definitely all-in for the madcap madness at hand!
And because it’s been brought up a few times already, the final act of this feet n’ fists a-flyin’ fracas is a thing of absolute wonder in and of itself… a wicked whirling dervish of puppetry, acrobatics, impossible disguises, martial arts, and live snakes… a fuckin’ lot of them. It is, of course, worth the price of admission in and of itself!
While we are speaking of prices, this Blu-ray release from Eureka! has plenty of extra bang for the buck courtesy of the included bonus material!
First up is a duo of audio commentaries, one from Hong Kong cinema expert Frank Djeng and the other featuring casting director, producer (no, not of this film) Mike Leeder and filmmaker Arne Venema, with the former being a fascinating scholarly analysis of The Miracle Fighters, and the latter a spirited, factoid & anecdote filled conversation that is a ton of fun to listen to!
Next comes interviews with Yuen Woo-Ping, assistant director Fish Fong, and filmmaker John Kreng (who discusses his time interviewing Yuen Woo-Ping).
Rounding out the extras are the original theatrical trailer for The Miracle Fighters, and a stills gallery.
The Miracle Fighters is an absolutely batshit experience from beginning to end, and that is a wonderful thing indeed!
