Iron Monkey (2001)

This Hong Kong martial arts is centred on Yang Tianchun who is a respected physician by day but a masked Robin Hood-like folk hero, known as Iron Monkey, by night. He targets corrupt officials and gives the money he takes to the needy. The officials are desperate to catch him so arrest anybody who has anything to do with monkey… if a man even scratched himself in a slightly simian way he'd be arrested. Amongst the arrested are Wong Kei-Ying and his son; he is also a skilled martial artist and offers to catch Iron Monkey while his son his held hostage. All the locals hate him for this and refuse to sell him food; the only people who are kind to him are Yang and his assistant Miss Orchid. Yang helps get Wong's son out of jail. Soon after a new corrupt official, a Shaolin traitor, arrives to take over Wong learns that Yang is the Iron Monkey and the two unite to fight against him and those who support him. They won't be fighting alone; Orchid and Wong's son, Fei-Hong, are also skilled martial artists.If you are a fan of martial arts films with feature plenty of exaggerated action then this is the film for you. There are lots of fights with characters leaping onto and across roofs and performing moves that nobody could really do… the way it is filmed one could almost believe it is possible at times. While most of the action is fairly bloodless the final fight is quite gory at times; not too disturbing but a little surprising given what was shown before. As well as the action there is quite a bit of comedy; this is pretty funny and doesn't detract from the action moments. The story is easy to follow with likable protagonists and suitably unpleasant villains; there are also so less clear cut characters; most notably the policeman leading the search for Iron Monkey. Rongguang Yu and Donnie Yen are impressive leads, playing Wang and Wong respectively; Jean Wang and Sze-Man Tsang provide fine support as Orchid and Fei-Hong and Yen Shi-kwan is suitably menacing as the main antagonist. All of these really impress in their martial arts scenes. Overall I'd certainly recommend this film to all fans of the genre.These comments are based on watching the film in Cantonese with English subtitles.

You pay to see a movie to be entertained, and this movie delivers. The so-called "wire fu" isn't anywhere as obnoxious as in other movies. There is a decent amount of character development spread among the action sequences. There are some pacing problems and subplots that don't execute well, but no major defects. This works as both a date movie and a family film.There is a prologue, First Act, Second Act, Third Act with Climax, and an epilogue. No more no less. I certainly enjoyed it more than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, so thank you Mr. Tarintino for getting this distributed in a wide release. Please continue to do so.

No disrespect to Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li, but Iron Monkey is my all time favorite. Iron Monkey should be the standard for martial arts movies. It was a perfect mixture of true martial arts, great choreography, and wire stunts. I've watched the subtitled version and the English dubbed version both with equal attention and enthusiasm. It was classic battle after classic battle. All characters, from the kid to the Iron Monkey, displayed extraordinary skills with weapons and without. The movie had fast paced fighting, old fashioned heroism, and even a bit of comedy. Iron Monkey is a masterpiece that I'll watch again and again.

This movie made me rend my shirt the first time I saw it.It was so thrilling I just couldn't contain myself.The wonderful action scenes sent my head spinning.Though there was some use of wires the ground fights were also the best I've seen(till date).Throughout it's length you're blown away by hilarious comic scenes and the best martial arts any movie has to offer.This movie also provides an insight into Wong Fei Hungs' childhood and his relationship with his father,a feature that adds some more flavour to the story. The storyline is simple and easy to follow thus forming a platform for showcasing all the thrills it has to offer.This is the ONLY MOVIE in my highschool cinema history to be shown twice in one night due to popular request.Still the ONLY one to be applauded after the credits started to roll and obviously throughout its' duration.Your collection of action films is half complete without Iron Monkey.It's good for drama-lovers as well;my mother hates action movies but she loved this one.In short I can assure you it is the best martial arts movie ever made.