The Age of Miracles (1996)
Reviewed by: hktopten on 1999-12-21
uh, this was a Peter Chan Ho San film? Sure, all the heart and soul trademark of an UFO film is there, but where is the spirit? Like a lot of HK films of late (for example, UFO's last effort Heaven Can't Wait), this has so many subplots in this film that would have made this film much better if the filmmakers just decided to let them run. Instead, we got a halfhearted effort in all of the stories in the entire film. Anita Yuen's acting is passable as the Grandmother, but her makeup wasn't. Alan Tam is flawless as the son who has to carry the weight of the entire family on his back (Fan Club Rules, can't write a bad thing about him), and Jordan Chan continued to muddle through as the slacker third son (apparently still clueless from Heaven Can't Wait). Roy Chiao just can do no wrong all year as the angel, and Teresa Decaprio stole the show from everybody just by merely appearing in the film. Like Fan in the film, UFO may be carrying too much weight their backs before they all lose it. May be there is just too much expectation out of UFO, maybe it is because this film is so rushed, or maybe it is because the film kept on being pushed back on the release date, but this film isn't that great. It is good, but not great; better than Heaven Can't Wait, but no way can be listed on the list of UFO classics like Tom, Dick, and Hairy, He Ain't Heavy, He's My Father, or to a lesser extent, He is a Woman, She is a Man. On the other hand, out of the four films that was dealing with the subject of death at the time period (Full Throttle, Somebody Up There Likes Me, and What a Wonderful World), the film tops them all (beating What a Wonderful World by a nose). Of course, I am talking about entertainment value. A passable film.