Iron Monkey (1993)
7.5
A masked hero wreaks vengeance towards corruption in this action-packed spectacular comedy
Movie
Hong Kong, Taiwan
Cantonese
Action, Crime, Drama
1993
YUEN WO-PING
Angie Tsang Sze-Man, Cheung Fung-Lei, Dion Lam Dik-On
90 min
TLDR
Try to find the original Hong Kong version for this one.
What it's about
The town of Chekiang, China, 1858. With government corruption preying upon desperate refugees, only one masked man has the courage and the prowess to do something– the “Iron Monkey”. However, fellow martial artist Wong Kei-ying is tasked to capture the village hero, after his son gets held hostage by the governor.
The take
Say what you will about Quentin Tarantino, but when he recommends a martial arts film, you just have to watch it. Like plenty from the genre that Tarantino’s inspired by, Iron Monkey has the same stylish, badass action that Hong Kong cinema is known for, with spectacular wire-work choreography, excellently shot fight sequences, as well as the goofy slapstick comedy that punches in some quips between hits. But what makes the film work is the folkloric story– it’s not quite as astounding as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and it’s all packaged in a familiar Robin Hood-esque plotline, but with a fantastic Donnie Yen and a script that rightly makes fun of the incompetent, corrupt cronies that rules over this small village, Iron Monkey does justice to the genre and to the actual folk hero the story was inspired by.
What stands out
Please take note that the US release is quite different from the original Hong Kong release. Of course, having some changes with the sound effects and soundtracks might be expected with every new release, but viewers should note that some of the scenes were cut, particularly the comedic scenes and scenes that refer to the politics of this story.
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