| From an era when the Yuen clan churned out a handful of supernatural comedy romps, The Miracle Fighters fits nicely into the equation although it's not as mad as Shaolin Drunkard for instance. Concerning squabbles and battles between sorcerers, director Yuen Woo-Ping probably does present practices that are no laughing matter and does have a footing in reality but obviously the film has a sense of fun towards it all. So much so that Westerners will probably be a bit turned off by the relentless broad comedy and constant mugging of lead Yuen Yat Chor as the pupil in training. The odd couple double act by Yuen Cheung Yan and Leung Kar Yan is highly memorable though and throughout the Yuen clan offers up plenty of creative scenarios with relatively little martial arts blended in. The finale in particular set at the Sorcerer's Championship sees Yuen fire on all wacky and creative cylinders, while giving real snakes a little bit of a hard time again (also see Snake In The Eagle's Shadow). Yuen does not seem overly concerned with narrative though and the film seems to brush over Yuen Yat Chor's training quite a bit in favour of other shenanigans. Sunny Yuen plays the Bat Sorcerer while Eddy Ko and Huang Ha also appear. Believe it or not but in a twisted way, the late Simon Yuen also gets in the cast.
Yuen Cheung Yan puts in a cameo appearance as the same character in Stephen Chow's Forbidden City Cop plus he would go on to have dual roles in Shaolin Drunkard as both the titular drunkard and the granny sorcerer of The Miracle Fighters. |
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