Though touted on the basis of Yuen Woo Ping and Donnie Yen's involvement as director and lead respectively, there's more to this 1993 piece than spectacular martial arts action.
The setting is a Chinese province in the mid-19th century. The mysterious outlaw Iron Monkey protects the poor against the excesses of the corrupt regime, pursuing a Robin Hood style policy of wealth redistribution.
The sheriff, er, governor orders his men to bring in anyone who could be the Monkey, leading to the arrest of Wong Kei Ying and his ten-year old son, Wong Fei Hung.
Iron Monkey shows up and is confronted by Wong Kei Ying, whose fighting skills impress the governor. Imprisoning Wong Fei Hung as collateral, he charges Wong Kei Ying with capturing Iron Monkey.
After meeting with little success against the "social bandit", a despairing Wong Kei Ying happens upon Dr Yang, the Iron Monkey's alter ego. While not revealing that he is the Monkey, Yang recognises Wong Kei Ying's basic decency and secretly rescues his son from the governor's dungeon – and not a moment too son, for a group of evil Shaolin enforcers have arrived in town intent on bringing Iron Monkey to justice and destroying Wong Kei Ying as a follower of a rival school…
The atheleticism and skill of the performers, even when enhanced with wire work and other effects such that they seem to defy gravity and deliver superhumanly fast and powerful blows, impresses. So too do the diversity of the fight scenes and the sheer dynamism of Woo Ping's direction, which has come a long way from the relatively simplistic (though effective) cut and zoom based approach of Snake in the Eagle's Shadow .
Yet, much the same could be said of dozens of other Hong Kong martial arts extravaganzas. It's what the industry did best, after all. What lifts Iron Monkey above the pack, then, are its solid backstory, well-developed characters and the willingness of the cast and crew to lavish as much attention on the more emotional, character-driven scenes as on the action ones.
The decision to present the story as an incident from the early life of Wong Fei Hung is a masterstroke, allowing the film-makers to tap into a well-established mythology and present Iron Monkey as an unofficial prequel to the Once Upon a Time in China series. (Donnie Yen playing Fei Hung's father here and the man himself in Once Upon a Time in China 2 .)
All told Iron Monkey contains more than enough good points to make one easily forgive and forget the occasional whiffs of cheese, such as the inevitable crowd-pleasing moments of humour. Recommended to those whose curiousity has been piqued by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon .
Copyright © K H Brown 2002-2005
Rating:
0.0 / 5
(0 votes)
|
5535 views
|
Previous
|
Next
|
Best prices on Iron Monkey
|
Print
|
Email page