Chefão por Acaso

This is terrific! One of his most lush, great looking, and well-directed (by himself) films, "Miracles" is engaging, charming and absolutely likable! The humor's perfect, along with the setting, and the cast is wonderful! The fighting, though less prevalent, is in my opinion some of his best work! This one pays great attention to story and detail, and not only is it very entertaining, it's really pretty beautiful to look at, as well....

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).

It is well known that 'Miracles' is one of Jackie Chan's favourite

movies, mainly due to the artistic freedom he got to make it.

We're all accustomed to Jackie Chan movies in the style of the

high octane martial arts action thriller, but up until this production

Jackie had little chance to show off his cinematographic skills,

often criticised for being very one-dimensional in his movie

making. 'Miracles' was the answer to all that.

Having secured the largest budget in HK movie history for this film

(which was yet still extremely modest by Hollywood standards),

Miracles was produced slightly differently from HK films we're

used to. The result was a lavish set with excellent costumes, and

most of all, flowing, extravagant shots throughout the film.

Unfortunately though, the storyline is a bit weak.

This is certainly not the traditional Jackie Chan movie we're used

to, but it is nice to see Jackie show off some of his other skills in

movie making, and that he's not just an all-action hero.

'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.

Miracles is Jackie Chan's favourite amongst his movies ,and the one in which he invested the most time and care. The result is, technically, a triumph. The convincing sets, lavish costumes and graceful camera work really hold by western film standards, while the fight scenes boast choreography that is just incredible to watch. They are more like musical numbers than martial arts fights, but the level of invention is just staggering, particularly in the scene where Jackie has to make his way down some stairs, fighting heavies as he does so, and the end battle in a rope factory.

However, elsewhere the film has problems. It attempts to juggle several plot lines with mixed success. The 'gangster'part, with Jackie as a crime boss, generally works well, but Jackie's relationship with singer Anita Mui almost disappears from the film and the Frank Capra 'A Pocketful Of Miracles'copied story is dwelt on at such length and so slowly that the middle of the film drags terribly, with endless dialogue scenes that could have sometimes been shortened or cut without harm to the film {or course, there is a shorter version of this film, but with some of the wrong bits cut}. At least there are some great laughs, such as gangsters and their 'molls' trying to be respectable rich folk, and the Clouseau-like Richard Ng's police captain.

Miracles is certainly not one of Chan's classics like Project A, Police Story or Drunken Master 1 and 2, but there is still a lot to like.