'3BlackChicks Review...'
IRON MONKEY (1993) aka "Siunin Wong Fei-hung tsi titmalau" Rated PG-13; running time 89 minutes Genre: Action/Martial Arts Seen at: Celebration Cinema (Lansing, Michigan) Official site: http://www.iron-monkey.com/ IMDB site: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0108148 Written by: Tsui Hark, Cheung Tan, Pik-Yin Tang, Tai-Muk Lau Directed by: Yuen Woo-Ping Cast: Donnie Yen, Sze-Man Tsang, Rongguang Yu, Jean Wang, Shun-Yee Yuen, Yee Kwan Yan, James Wong, Hou Hsiao, Sai-kun Yam, Fai Li
Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2001 Review URL: http://www.3blackchicks.com/bamsironmonkey.html
When I heard about the background of this movie, I thought of an African fable I learned as a child, that of Anasi The Spider, told to me in many variations. I don't remember the details of it very well, but the memory came to me as an analogy to the legend of Wong Fei-Hung. When I found out that the Fei-Hung I enjoyed so much in LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER was the grown-up version of the one in IRON MONKEY, I found myself anticipating it, just as I had, years ago, anticipated hearing a new version of the Anasi tale.
The Story (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**): Legend has it that in 1800s China, warlords ruled the land, causing the countryside peasants to flee and seek protecting as refugees in China's big cities. Unfortunately, greedy merchants and corrupt politicians made the refugee's life a difficult one. The good news was that in Chekiang province, there were kind people like Dr. Yang (Rongguang Yu) and Miss Orchid (Jean Wang) to help care for the mistreated peasants. And that a man known as Iron Monkey was there to rob from the rich and give back to the poor.
This, of course, doesn't sit well with the town's leading official, Governor Cheng (James Wong), who wants to keep all his "hard-earned" money to himself. The Governor charges Chief Fox (Shun-Yee Yuen) with hunting down the Robin Hood of China; but it soon becomes apparent that Fox and the traitorous Shaolin monks in his employ, can't handle the job.
Paranoid about the Iron Monkey, the Governor orders anyone who even *looks* like they have any monkey in them [Driving While Monkey?] to be arrested. Wong Kei-Ying (Donnie Yen), an innocent monk travelling through town with his son Wong Fei-Hung (Sze-Man Tsang), is profiled and arrested along with other innocent villagers. The Governor, seeing Kei-Ying's mighty kung-fu, uses Kei-Ying to track down Iron Monkey - by holding his son Fei-Hung hostage.
The Upshot: My wait was not in vain. Though IRON MONKEY is new to the U.S., it actually predates LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER (itself a late U.S. release) by one year: IRON MONKEY was released in Hong Kong in 1993, as SIUNIN WONG FEI-HUNG TSI TITMALAU ("Iron Monkey: The Young Wong Fei-Hung"). Both films share a wonderful sense of wit, a grand display of martial arts skill and artistry, and a warmth not found even in one of my favorite films of all time, CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (which shares another datapoint in common with IM: director Yuen Woo-Ping choreographed the CT/HD fight scenes - and it shows).
In fact, I have a hard time separating these three films in my Best Of Genre sights. Where CT/HD was more grandiose, IM, in its relative simplicity, was easier to believe; its lack of out-and-out fantastical mysticism made it more immediate, more human. And though LODM was much more out-and-out funny at times, IM's use of humor blended more naturally with its storytelling. IM may not have had a lead with the overpowering presence of a Chow Yun-Fat, or the hilarious timing of a Jackie Chan, but the team of Donnie Yen, Sze-Man Tsang, Rongguang Yu, and Jean Wang, are no slouches either.
Yen and Tsang match beautifully, with Yen displaying a calm charisma that did remind me of Li Mu Bai in CT/HD, but with less of that character's standoffishness; and Fei-Hung's monkey-like mimicking of father Kei-Ying made Tsang a joy to watch. The other duo, Yu and Wang, were also good, together and separately. I was floored by one of their first shared scenes - a "simple" act of picking up scattered paper - and found myself wishing that the romance in CT/HD had been drawn nearly as well as the story of Dr. Yang and Miss Orchid. And needless to say, this foursome can kick some serious booty.
I have mixed feelings about the supporting characters. It was good to see many of the characters I had seen in LODM - the witch (Fai Li), the disfigured warrior (Hou Hsiao), and unless I'm mistaken, Hin Hung the monk (Sai-kun Yam) - but it would've been nice to have had some idea where those characters came from, rather than just seeing them show up to kick some serious booty [not that there's anything wrong with that.] Similarly, James Wong didn't add any real nuance to his ObIdiot Governor; except for the necessity of twists in Chief Fox's story, the Governor character could've been dropped altogether, with Chief Fox being The Bad Guy in his place. But I have no such Issues with Chief Fox himself; Shun-Yee Yuen gave this character layers that I found pleasantly interesting to watch. And Hiu Hing, Shaolin Traitor (Yee Kwan Yan) will always be My Boy if for no other reason than introducing me to Flying Sleeve!
In a way, I wish I had seen them in chronological order: IRON MONKEY first, then LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER, and CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON last. I wasn't as wowed after seeing IM as I was after CT/HD, partially because of advances in "wire-fu" technology since 1993, I think. I just hope that that advancement doesn't affect IM's box office success; it is a film that should be seen on its own terms, not just as a predecessor to a more technically-advanced chop-socky flick. Meaning THE MATRIX, of course.
Bammer's Bottom Line: Check out IRON MONKEY: a less polished, less mystical - but somehow warmer and more pure rendering - of CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON-type storytelling, with the humor (and shared storyline) of LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER. Like those movies, IRON MONKEY (and its sequel, IRON MONKEY 2) will most def become part of my DVD collection, once Amazon brings this movie back to its virtual shelves.
IRON MONKEY (rating: greenlight): I think I'll be spending a lot more time looking for legendary fables at the library - and the video store - if they're told half as well as the one in IRON MONKEY.
Rose "Bams" Cooper Webchick and Editor, 3BlackChicks Review Entertainment Reviews With Flava! Copyright Rose Cooper, 2001 EMAIL: bams@3blackchicks.com http://www.3blackchicks.com/
========== X-RAMR-ID: 29826 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 255304 X-RT-TitleID: 1075984 X-RT-SourceID: 447 X-RT-AuthorID: 3672
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews