The Miracle Fighters (1982)

Director Yuen Woo Ping gathered his family together to make The Miracle Fighters---a combination of kung fu, magic, and slapstick comedy. While it was fun to watch the Yuens and Bryan “Beardy” Leung, the story was a bit of a mess and dragged badly in the middle.

Kao Hsiung’s wife is killed because of their mixed marriage-a Han and a Manchu. In order to escape execution and a dangerous sorcerer, he takes the royal son as hostage. When the boy is inadvertently killed, Kao is distraught. He later takes in an orphan named Shu Gut and raises him. The royal sorcerer eventually catches up with Kao and hopes to use the now grown boy to impersonate the prince. Things don’t go to plan for anyone and Shu finds himself with two old sorcerers. The Old Man and the Old Woman have few peers with magic, but bicker constantly even resorting to dividing their property with painted red rocks. They agree to train Shu so that he can defeat the evil sorcerer and be free from his threat.

Yuen Yat Choh had spent most of his career in bit parts. He was adequate in the role of Shu Gat but he was a better fighter than actor. Yuen Cheung Yan was funny in his role of the Old Woman who could fight and make you see double. Yuen Shun Yee as Sorcerer Bat provided the menacing force needed to give the story some movement. At the sorcerers’ altar, Woo Ping honored the late Yuen patriarch Simon Yuen, with a large painting of him from his role in Drunken Master. Bryan Leung made for a spry Old Man with more than a few tricks up his sleeves.

The fights mixed with magic were cuckoo crazy and everyone of the Yuens and Leung could be counted on to do their part to sell the moves. Shu had to not only fight other sorcerers but also a giant wooden stick man that looked straight out of Angry Birds. The problem was when no one was fighting. The slapstick shenanigans wore thin quickly for me. It was like they knew where they wanted the story to end up, with a magic free-for-all, but didn’t create a compelling, coherent story to get there. At 100 minutes, the movie ran ten minutes longer than many other kung fu flicks and those extra ten minutes of bickering sorcerers was not spellbinding. If you enjoy slapstick kung fu and want to know if you should watch this, my Magic 8 Ball says, “without a doubt”. If you don’t care for slapstick and long sequences between action bother you, *shake, shake*, the magic ball reads, “my sources say no” or at best, “reply hazy, try again later.” The Miracle Fighters had entertaining parts to it, especially when the Yuens leaned into their strengths. I only wished they had done more of what they do best because more miraculous fists and kicks would have done the trick.

10/14/23

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