Set during the Quing dynasty, little time is wasted in getting the action going and we are informed that marriage between Manchu and Han people is outlawed. Therefore it’s rather unfortunate for high-ranking official Kao Hsiung (Eddy Ko) when word reaches the Emperor that Kao has had the gall to marry a Han woman. However, the Emperor is willing to forgive Kao if he is prepared to kill his wife before the entire court assembly… which of course he is not! So the Emperors’ henchmen carry out the dirty job for him, which in turn (and understandably) infuriates Kao, with an almighty fight breaking out during which he finds himself pitted against, among other individuals, a power-craving magician called Sorcerer Bat (Yuen Shun-yi) and a semi-tragic clown figure (Brandy Yuen) trapped in a gigantic jar, with head, arms and legs sticking out and a paper-sword that can inflict serious wounds. Both Clown (with the voice of a child) and Sorcerer Bat will appear many more times throughout the film. Despite the odds not looking good for him, Kao manages to escape and to make sure he isn’t followed (at least not straight away) he kidnaps the little Crown Prince and takes the boy with him. Bad luck then that during the escape, all the action and excitement prove too much for the little Prince and he expires, leaving Kao no other option than to bury the Prince at sea with no traces left.
Years pass, and Kao, now considerably older, lives a humble existence with orphaned Shu Geng (Yat-chor Yuen) whom he found under a tree as a little boy and raised him with the identity of the dead Prince – Shu even wears a large jade amulet around his neck which ‘Uncle Kao’ has given him and which had once belonged to the little Prince. Kao is only too aware that the Emperor and his men will never give up looking for him as they want the Prince back, so he can one day take over the reign of the current and rather old Emperor though of course, they have no idea that the actual Prince has been long dead. However, the ever-scheming Sorcerer Bat is also interested in tracking down Kao and the alleged Prince and preferably, before the Emperor’s men do… because if the Prince is dead, then it’s Sorcerer Bat who will hold reign supreme over the entire land. Things soon spin out of control when Kao, in a drunken state thanks to a session of binge drinking, accidentally lets down his guard and the secret surrounding his identity and that of his ‘nephew’ comes to light. After a fight with the ninja-like assassins, Kao is left badly wounded although manages to shake off his attackers. When Shu attempts to fetch medicine for his wounded master, he comes across a derelict place which seems steeped in magic and encounters not only a roast chicken floating in the air but all sorts of other trickery, courtesy of an old sorcerer who never stops quarrelling with an old woman and an old man – both experts in all things magical themselves. There’s a particularly funny scene in which the old woman (played by male Hong Kong actor/director Yuen Cheung-Yan) offers a portrait of a dead master a drink and it comes to life for a few seconds and the depicted character in the painting even seems intoxicated.
However, and despite his best intentions to nurse Kao back to health, Shu finds himself kicked out by his master (whom he refers to as ‘Uncle) and is now left to his own devices. This is where the real action kicks in and of course, Sorcerer Bat bounces back onto the scene because for now and as long as the young Prince is still missing, he is the Number One geezer in power and that would change if the Prince were to be found and brought back to the palace. So he had better make sure that the Prince is found alright, but dead… Well, Sorcerer Bat does find him but then realises that Shu cannot possibly be the long-lost Prince, because the real Prince had Taoist red dots tattooed on the sole of his foot and the captured person does not. What’s to do? Easy, tie him down and tattoo some red dots on the sole of Shu’s foot as proof that he is the Prince, then kill him and voila, Sorcerer Bat will be able to remain in power.
Too bad for the scheming sorcerer that Shu is a force to be reckoned with and boy, does he fight back! Of course, he isn’t quite as innocent and as naïve as Sorcerer Bat had assumed and Shu turns out to be an oppo not to be messed with. The insane and increasingly madcap action sequences are virtually non-stop and in another utterly bonkers scene, Shu has a duel with Clown in the jar, who urinates over him via the opening at the bottom of the jar – oh that crude Chinese sense of humour. Shu is also forced to take on a gigantic red stick man and the notorious ‘pit of snakes’ scene – notorious because during the filming of this particular scene, for which apparently thousands of snakes were used, almost all of them died due to the dry ice used for special effects, which suffocated the unfortunate reptiles. “No animal was harmed in the making of this film” is a disclaimer you won’t find in Chinese films, not from that era anyway! To give anything more away would doubtlessly spoil the broth though there comes a point halfway through the film when the relentless antics and action become so dominant that plot and characters are almost reduced to second fiddle. THE MIRACLE FIGHTERS is an acquired taste which will please all those who love their martial arts infused with a bit of lunacy.
The movie looks better than ever thanks to a brand-new 2K restoration and as ever the Blu-ray comes with a plethora of bonus material while the first print run (2000 copies) is presented in a Limited Edition O-card slipcase and Collector’s booklet.
