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IRON MONKEY
Blu-ray Edition
Film review by Ed Nguyen
Technical specs by Michael Jacobson
Stars:
Donnie Yen, Yu Rong Guang, Jean Wang, Tsang Sze-Man
Director: Yuen Wo Ping
Audio: DTS HD 5.1 (English), Dolby Digital 5.1 (Chinese), Dolby 2.0
(Spanish/English)
Video: Color, anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1
Studio: Miramax
Features: Interviews with Donnie Yen and Quentin Tarantino
Length: 86 minutes
Release Date: September 15, 2009
"Your
sect killed my father!"
"Let's
make it a family tradition."
Film
***
Folks
who have watched any of the Matrix
films have probably marveled at those great action sequences.
Who knew Keanu Reeves could look so cool pretending to be Bruce Lee?
Well, the man ultimately responsible whipping Keanu into kung fu-ing
shape was the master stunts choreographer Yuen Wo Ping.
Yuen has been around a while, albeit mostly in the Hong Kong movie
industry. But while there, he
worked with the best in the martial arts genre - Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Donnie
Yen to name a few. One of his final
films, before assuming solely choreography duties, was Iron
Monkey (1993), and it packs a knock-out punch.
Is
the film good? Oh, you betcha!
Sophisticated people who are looking for Oscar-worthy performances may
roll their eyes at this mindless action flick, but the martial arts film genre
has never been about thought-provoking drama and emotional speeches.
It's all about kicking the other guy into the middle of next week! It's about the good guys with their hiiie-ya kicks and the bad guys with their evils laughs and twisty
Fu Manchu beards. The plots are all
variations on the same theme - the hero gets knocked around silly early on but
does some training and comes back to stomp the bad guys into an unrecognizable
ooze. And Iron Monkey, produced by Hong Kong wunderkind Tsui Hark and directed
by Yuen Wo Ping, has arguably some of the finest martial arts action sequences
ever devised for film. Yuen Wo Ping
is at the top of his game here, and with Donnie Yen leading the way, this film
is a thrill ride from start to finish.
The
film takes place in China in the latter half of the nineteenth century.
A mysterious folk hero, Iron Monkey, has been terrorizing the local
corrupt government officials. He
dodges all the government's diabolical traps and generally makes the government
lackeys look like bumbling idiots. Crusader
by night, by day he is just the local good-hearted pharmacist, Dr. Yang (Yu Rong
Guang). Ha ha, a pharmacist!
That's a new one.
Anyways,
this vigilante also has a female sidekick - Miss Orchid (the seriously fine Jean
Wang). She has some moves on her
too, you better believe! Together,
they do the honorable Robin Hood act - rob the rich, feed the poor.
Well,
as it turns out, the governor has a new plot to capture Iron Monkey.
All strangers and monkey-looking beggars are to be gathered up.
Inadvertently entangled in this mess are two innocent travelers, Wong
Kei-Ying (Donnie Yen) and his young son, Fei Hung.
When Wong Kei-Ying reveals some of his awesome martial arts skills, the
governor quickly revises his plans - he threatens to kill Fei Hung unless
Kei-Ying agrees to find and defeat the Iron Monkey.
Is
there any point in babbling further about the plot? Suffice it to say that Wong Kei-Ying does find and initially
fights Iron Monkey. But, when he
realizes who the bad guys really are, he joins up with Iron Monkey instead to
defeat the corrupt government officials. The
governor may ultimately be a push-over, but soon an evil magistrate replaces him
and turns out to be a very deadly master monk indeed!
This magistrate's arrival starts the countdown towards a fiery climactic
fight with a majestic ooooh-factor.
Folks,
this is popcorn-martial arts at its finest!
The action is all real with no CGI effects! A mixture of traditional martial arts and amazing wire-fu,
the stunts in Iron Monkey have to be
seen to be believed. These actors
are truly skilled martial artists, and the results are all on-screen for
everyone to see. From bare-handed
fisticuffs to melee combats involving swords, polearms, chains, and even burning
logs, it's all here!
So,
if you're in the mood for some light-hearted but exciting action, why not give Iron
Monkey a try? There are few
Hong Kong martial arts flicks better than this Yuen Wo Ping film, and with the
fine polish that Miramax has given to it, Iron
Monkey has never looked better!
Bonus
Trivia -
Wong Fei Hung of course grew up to become a legendary (but real-life) folk hero
himself. Jackie Chan portrayed him
in two Drunken Master films and Jet Li
handled the duties in the awesome Once
Upon a Time in China series. For
Iron Monkey, Wong Fei Hung is
portrayed by the very talented Tsang Sze-Man, who is actually....a girl!
Video ****
Though this American release version is not quite the full length original film from Hong Kong, I have to commend Miramax on an exceptional job in delivering this title to Blu-ray. This is as clean and pristine a print as you could hope for (Asian film preservation is notoriously and sadly lacking), but the action lives up to the event of high definition. The 1080p transfer keeps everything sharp and pristine, with amazing colors and details throughout.
Audio ***1/2
It might raise a few eyebrows that the English dubbed version got a DTS HD remix while the original Cantonese is still Dolby Digital. Despite the uncompressed nature of the English, I'm old school...I still prefer the original language, and it still sounds great. Lots of dynamic range and plenty of action to keep all channels employed and crossing over smoothly. If you're not the same kind of purist as me, then enjoy the English track...it's darned good, too.
Features
**
The Blu-ray has two quick interviews. I am not sure how many people would consider an interview with Quentin Tarantino a "feature," but here it is nonetheless in bold and cheery colors. Tarantino is his usual, relentlessly motor-mouth self, and he explains (in so many words) how he was able to convince Disney to finally distribute Iron Monkey in America. Love him or hate him, he still has great taste in Hong Kong action flicks! The second interview, with Donnie Yen, is less spastic but just as enjoyable for any fans of this exceptional martial artist. Yen describes some of the styles involved in the choreography for Iron Monkey, too!
Summary:
Sometimes you just have to say "aww heck with it." Forget about that weepy, serious-illness-of-the-week melodrama you were about to rent. Grab Iron Monkey instead, kick back, relax, and watch these martial artists fly into some serious butt-kickin' action. It's mindless, it's loopy, and it's absolutely fantastic fun on Blu-ray!
