Iron Monkey

Chances are you’ve seen and heard the story of Robin Hood told several different ways. From Errol Flynn to Kevin Costner to a Disney cartoon to high school musicals and bedtime stories, the legend has been done in seemingly every possible way. That includes as a kung-fu comedy directed by and Yuen Woo-Ping. Despite its seemingly constant action, the focus was way too light for my liking, resulting in a film that’s often more corny than it is enthralling.

Dr. Yang (Yu Rong Guang) is a doctor by day and a disguised hero of sorts by night, stealing from the rich and powerful and spreading the monetary love to the struggling masses. Known as the Iron Monkey, he is the idol of his fellow villagers as they are otherwise helpless against greed and corruption. Complete with a light-hearted calling card featuring a joyful monkey cartoon, the Iron Monkey is a master of moves. One-on-one or against an entire squad, he always finds a way to kick his way out of trouble.

But the local governor (James Wong) is none too happy with the Iron Monkey. They seek him out and end up bringing in some outside help in the form of another champion fighter (Donnie Yen) with conflicted motives. Instantly, the two are pitted as mortal enemies but there’s a little more to it to complicate things. But that’s not to say the film is complicated as a whole. In fact, it’s just the opposite.

Iron Monkey is all action and comedy but without much substance. The film is choreographed by the same folks who put together the innovative moves in The Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Not surprisingly, this is the film’s greatest strength. Every other scene seems to carry some sort of acrobatics, whether there’s really a need for it or not. And while I do like good action, Iron Monkey doesn’t raise the stakes at all. Almost all of the action scenes are interchangeable and don’t really build toward something bigger by the end. As a result, the impact of the action became less and less with every duel until I was largely numb to it.

The story is too light to get drawn into and the characters are only slightly developed. Take away the various disguises and the character development is even lighter. Reality is never much of an issue as the choreography often resembles a Looney Tunes cartoon. It’s not to the extreme of Kung Fu Hustle but there’s still a lot of multiple kicks to a rubbery face, over-the-top facial gestures and moans and groans.

Iron Monkey tries to be about good fun but there’s just not enough to get behind with it. Technically, it’s a very proficient film. But its gimmick of wire flying mixed with slapstick become tiresome without enough of a story.

Iron Monkey Blu-ray Review

The Blu-ray release of Iron Monkey is something of a disappointment. Not only is it a sparse release with little bonus content, but the presentation of the film itself is bound to disappoint many. The film looks solid with its widescreen 1080p high definition transfer. But where my disappointment comes in is in the audio. The only track that has 5.1 DTS-HD sound is the dubbed English track. The original Chinese track is only in 5.1 Dolby Digital. A third track is in Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital.

The bonus features consist of two short but informative interviews. The first is a nine-minute sit down with Quentin Tarantino who speaks very intelligently about the kung-fu genre and its place in world cinema. The second interview is with star Donnie Yen who talks primarily about his career.