Kwok (played by Jackie from ‘Project A part I and II’ and ‘Rumble in the Bronx’), a countryside self-starter, arrives in Hong Kong intent on securing wealth and fame in the big city. However, after a few unlucky episodes his luck runs out and he ends up inheriting a local crime syndicate when a dying boss mistakenly chooses him as his successor. Kwok unwillingly agrees to undertake the fulfilling the dying boss’s last request by taking new leadership over the gang and receives constant counsel from his number one (played by Wu Ma from ‘It’s a Drink, It’s a Bomb’, ‘Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars’ and ‘The Millionaire’s Express’). After convincing the rest of the mob members of his suitability for the role through some grilling challenges, Kwok earns the respect of his gang. Being a superstitious person, he attributes his recent success to the roses that he buys from the poor Madame Rose (played by Gua Ah-Leh), a local flower lady and makes the purchases a regular daily occurrence. Through re-thinking the gangs strategy of making money, he comes up with the idea of redesigning the nightclub (main hangout spot for the gang) into a fashionable club dubbed “The Ritz”, whilst hiring a debt-ridden singer, Yang Yu-Ming (played by Anita Mui from ‘Moon Warriors’, ‘Drunken Master II’ and ‘Saviour of the Soul’) to act as a showgirl and pay back her fathers owed dues as their star attraction. With his upright and honest stance, Kwok decides to help Madame Rose’s daughter (played by Gloria Yip from) come back home with her rich, well-known and respected fiancée and get married. This situation arises as Madame Rose has been providing for Gloria’s education by sending her money and pretending she’s a wealthy via using a well-known hotel as her main address through an internal contact working there. Kwok and Yang Yu-Ming decide to aid Madame Rose in an elaborate deception of rags-to-riches for the transformation to ensure a smooth engagement. Things spiral out of control, as there is persisting tension with another local crime syndicate, as well as the constant intervening habits of the local policemen (led by Richard Ng from ‘Carry on Hotel’, ‘My Wife is 18’ and ‘My Dream Girl’).

The movie also features a wealth of other actors such as Bill Tung Bui as Madame Rose’s make-believe partner (from ‘Project A part II’ and ‘Police Story I, II, III and IV’), Gloria Yip as Madame Rose’s daughter (from ‘Saviour of the Soul’), Lo Lieh as Jackie Chan’s rival for leadership (from ‘Police Story 3’ and ‘The Untold Story’), Billy Chow as the rival gang’s goon (from ‘Eastern Condors’ and ‘Fist of Legend’), Chor Yuen as the dying boss (from ‘Thunderbolt’ and ‘Police Story I and II’), Ricky Hui as Jackie Chan’s goon (from ‘Mr. Vampire’ and ‘Project A part II’) alongside Ken Lo, Yuen Biao, Jacky Cheung, Simon Yam, Mars, Tai Bo, Ray Lui , Amy Yip and Kenny Bee to name a few!

‘Miracles’ aka ‘Mr. Canton and Lady Rose’ was also surprisingly directed by Jackie Chan and the action and comedy never disappoint. It also seems to be very high-budget at its time of production and this really shows as the money was invested in the correct areas for the viewers to observe. Furthermore, there are enough twists and a strong storyline to keep everybody entertained as well some well-choreographed action. This movie showcases Jackie Chan’s ability to hold his own without any major involvement from other stars and deliver in such strenuous circumstances as those encountered in ‘Project A part II’. This attempt is a definite success as compared to previous one which was absolutely overwhelming for him even with the presence of stars such as Maggie Cheung and Rosamund Kwan. Not all of the focus on this movie is on action since Jackie Chan seems to be the only actor able to fight properly and most of the opponents that he faces throughout the movie can be individually overcome by him with quite some ease and so he faces groups rather than single fighters.

The setting of the movie is recreated with the finest of details and no shortfalls can be pinpointed whatsoever. Also, the huge cast list refreshes the movie constantly and offers everybody an opportunity to quickly deliver their acting strengths and disappear into thin air without getting bogged down with the nitty-gritty emotional or dramatic aspects of acting. This interweaving of actors is not necessarily a bad thing considering the claustrophobic and chaotic lifestyle of living in Hong Kong at that period. This movie is no tear-jerker and does not try to be one most of the time (regardless of Madame Rose’s naturally excruciating circumstances of trying to protect her daughter because of motherly love) but offers plenty of entertainment value on all fronts. The only minor flaws in this movie may be that they do not deal with this thorny issue of common-sense or characters feelings and that the outlook of the movie is very age-ratings friendly as opposed to realistic cold-blooded personification and murders/killings of rival gangsters (since nobody dies in this movie, not even the saboteurs or rival gangsters). Also, most gangsters are comical and cannot be taken seriously, not even the head of local police.

Overall, this movie should not be taken seriously (as with most of Jackie Chan’s movies) but offers plenty of classy acting to keep it well away from being a silly production. This movie could be considered one of the finest works of Jackie Chan to-date and did him immense credit in reaching stardom on an international-scale!

Overall Rating: 8.3/10