Iron Monkey (Blu-ray)
Filed Under: Blu-ray, Reviews | Article Tags : Blu-ray review
By: The Dweeb
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Following up on our week of Kung Fu Blu, Iron Monkey is the next stop on this tour. Part of the Ultimate Force Of Four box set, plus the Quentin Tarantino stamp of approval, this movie will seem very familiar to you. Asian cinema, just like its Hollywood counterpart loves to borrow stories that have already been told a thousand fold, and reshape it into something new, this time with a bit of Hong Kong flavor to kick it up a notch. The story of Iron Monkey is really a retelling of the classic Robin Hood, where a masked vigilante fights against the corrupt governor and protects the helpless peasant population from evil gangsters and unscrupulous businessmen, all set in around the 19th Century. It could even pass for a Batman knockoff. Strangely enough, after watching the film I was really craving some Chinese food, thanks to the cooking scene! So not only is this film filled with action and comedy, its a cooking demo.
Aside from the familiar story line, you will also notice the similarities of the fight scenes as well. Director Yuen Woo Ping is a master fight choreographer, and this film is filled to the brim with wire fu that became well known in America through The Matrix films and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. It also happens he worked on those films as well, surprise! Some of the work in here is absolutely amazing, your head will be spinning along with the characters as they flit about on screen. The energy level just goes up every few minutes as each fight scene becomes more complex and over the top. The final battle scene is certainly the highlight. These directors have a thing about trying to outdo one another it seems.
Thematically this movie is very similar to Jackie Chan’s Legend Of Drunken Master. In fact, the boy (Sze-Man Tsang) in this film is actually the same character, Wong Fei Hung who gets to kick some butt in several scenes himself. Like in Drunken Master, there is the father and son dynamic, traditions, honor and respect, rich versus poor. Iron Monkey is certainly more of a good versus evil tale, and spends a lot of time with good guys versus bad guys, black versus white almost. Many characters are clearly the bad guys (mostly providing comic relief), yet others still lie in a gray area. Wong (Donnie Yuen) and the chief of police fall into this category, slowly they change sides as the movie progresses. There are many entertaining if not intriguing characters in the film, which is peppered with lots of humor.
As far as this edition on Blu-ray is concerned I think you will be quite pleased in the picture quality. Although its an older film, the transfer is remarkably good. The image is quite clear, colors stand out and even the darker scenes look great, and there are plenty of those. Although by default the audio track selected is the dubbed English, one can switch to the Chinese original and just go with the subtitles if so desired. There are only two extra material items on here, both fairly brief. The first is Quentin Tarantino explaining his love of this film and Hong Kong cinema in general and the other is a really short interview with Donnie Yuen who speaks about his experiences in Kung Fu movies and how he got here, by accident.
I immensely enjoyed this film, and think its a decent package, its still weak in the extra material department so I can’t justify the purchase of the Blu-ray unless you are a hardcore fan. Definitely a film to check out though.
Reviewer’s Opinion: RENT IT!!
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