The Canton Godfather

This 1989 Jackie Chan movie differs from most of his usual movie in terms of being less action-filled and having less slapstick comedy in it. This is one of the more 'serious' of movies in his career, although he did manage to put in some comedy elements here and there.

Jackie Chan directed "Miracles" (aka "Qi ji") himself and also starred in it alongside with Anita Mui. The two do have good on-screen chemistry together and do compliment one another well throughout the course of the movie. However, Bill Tung (playing Tung) and Richard Ng (playing Captain Ho) were also really good throughout the movie and added a lot of charm and humor to the movie. I didn't even realize that Biao Yuen had a cameo in the movie until after I checked the full cast list on IMDb, nor did I see Simon Yam as a police man either.

There is, of course, martial arts, stunts and action throughout this movie, as it is a Jackie Chan movie after all. But it is not as prominent a key element to the movie as seen in most of his prior and later work. And with this being a Jackie Chan movie, the action, martial arts and stunts you get is of course excellent and so well choreographed and equally well executed.

The story in "Miracles" is about a newcomer to Hong Kong in the 1930's who is hustled out of his last remaining money. He reluctantly becomes a mafia boss and finds himself trying to do good in a world run by criminals and hoodlums.

I will say that the story was good, although the movie felt a bit too long running at two hours and nineteen minutes. It could have used some trimming down here and there. But all in all, it was enjoyable and a good wholehearted Jackie Chan movie.

The cast in "Miracles" was quite good, with a handful of some very familiar faces (as listed earlier above), especially if you are familiar with the Hong Kong cinema. The cast ensemble did perform well in their given roles and characters.

I think that with this 1989 movie then Jackie Chan also established himself as being capable of branching out to other genres than his all too familiar martial arts action comedies. And that was a good achievement.

All in all, "Miracles" is an enjoyable movie to watch for fans of Jackie Chan and newcomers alike. And for us who are a fan of the traditional Jackie Chan movies then "Miracles" was a much welcomed breath of fresh air and a foray into new territory for the beloved action star.

Before Miracles (inspired by Pocketful of Miracles and other films), Jackie had already done several movies set in the early 30s, including Project A and the sequel Project A II where Jackie homages silent movies and recreates stunts by Buster Keaton, etc.

In this film, Jackie creates a film that would let him be recognised as a first-rate director. Miracles is a story of Jackie who gets involved with a local triad gang, who's boss dies proclaiming Jackie to be the new boss. The film follows Jackie's exploits and his quest to make the gang into a non-criminal type gangsters mob.

The film has fantastic camera work and wonderfully detailed in all costumes and the set design. The story is a mis-mash of action and a warm hearted story of Jackie and his relationship with a Lady who sells Roses, and how he buys a rose every day for luck.

When the rose vendor learns her daughter is coming, she breaks down - realising that her lie of her living a grand life will be exposed - and soon Jackie and his mob try their hardest to help the vendor any way they can.

Although this is more story and well acted out script, the film seems slugglish and when action happens its over too quick. Fortuently Jackie throws in some typical comic moments and homages to several silent films as well.

Action fans may be disappointed with the lack of gun-toting gangsters or the lack of tommy guns blazing or lack of kung fu, but the film isn't meant to be for that, its a story based movie.

The film is excellent to watch, but probably not all that great for Martial art fans as it has a lack of genuinely good fight sequences, bar two (one being when Jackie is tested as the new boss and the other being at the end with Billy Chow).

Overall a good movie, but did it really need so much money to be spent on it?

Overall: 6/10.

I didn't even know that Jackie made this movie for a long time. Lavishly shot with all star cast. This is one fantastic movie.

Kwok (Jackie Chan) arrives in Hong Kong looking for a job. Within hours, he's swindled of all his money by Tung (Bill Tung). Lamenting his misfortune, he meets the rose lady who's selling roses. Kwok buys one rose from her. Next thing he knows, he's involved in a gang chase. The chase has the boss fatally wounded. He murmurs in his last breath pointing to Kwok that "This man is the new head". Overnight, Kwok becomes the boss of a crime family. He declares "No more crime and killing", but the old habits die hard. Kwok is called in by Tiger - an another gang boss for negotiations. Each time he goes about his business, he buys a rose from the rose lady to give him good luck. One day, he doesn't find the rose lady. He searches for her, and she's in distress. Asking her why, she confesses that her daughter in Shanghai is getting married to a wealthy man's son. But she's been telling her that she's rich which is so far from the truth, and is afraid that when the groom and his father gets to Hong Kong, and sees her, they will cancel the wedding. Kwok has an idea to make the rose lady look rich, and invite all of other gang bosses and make them act as dignitaries in Hong Kong for the wedding party. But two other rival gangs, and inspector from Hong Kong police is about to foul up the whole plan.

There's action, romance, and lot of feel good scenes in this movie. The story telling, and timing things happen can only be experienced in Jackie Chan movies. The actors all perform better than usual attesting to Jackie's ability as a director. The choreography of the fight sequence is one of the best also.

Anita Mui plays the role of Ming - a singer for Kwok's club, and Kwok's love interest. She's great. Her talent will be missed.

This is one heck of a movie, and one of the best movie Jackie Chan produced in the '80s.

'Miracles' (I actually like the Australian version title 'The Canton Godfather' more) is quite different from usual Jackie Chan's action choreography movies. It is more situation comedy in 1930s Hollywood fashion, but in Jackie Chan's sauce. The magnificent action and fight scenes are still in, but this time the film concentrates more on simple storytelling and comedy with lavishing set pieces depicting 1930's Hong Kong. The film is over two hours long, but it doesnt' drag as the pacing between action scenes is nearly perfect. Jackie Chan's comedic timing and use of slapstick is as masterful as his martial arts skills. Might not be Chan's best movie, but it is still very enjoyable. Sweet but not sticky. And every once in a while it is nice to see one of your favorite heroes doing something little different.

Plus - Jackie Chan himself considers 'Miracles' his best directorial effort.

I recently picked up a full, subtitled copy of 'Miracles', and I must say that the original is better than the dubbed version I had previously seen, and that version was also around half an hour shorter than the original version. The dubbed version cut out some not-so-important scenes, but things still got confusing at times, and some very funny scenes which did not make into the dubbed version, and at least one of the fight scenes was significantly edited in the dubbed version.

'Miracles' a very different movie to most of Jackie's work. There is the trademark Jackie Chan action and slapstick, but fights and action sequences are not as frequent as they are in his other movies, as 'Miracles' is more about Jackie proving to critics that he can make a movie with extravagant sets and costumes, and complicated camera shots (Who can blame him? James Cameron did the same thing, but 'Miracles' is a both an enjoyable and a good movie, while 'Titanic' is neither).

The movie is funny, and the action (what action there is) is excellent, and even the acting is great.

9/10 A great movie. Check it out if you're a Jackie Chan fan, but make sure you get the full, subtitled movie (should be about two-hours).