Iron Monkey

Second, this movie features as one of its characters a young Wong Fei Hung (star of the Once Upon a Time in China movies and historical Chinese hero). The kid who plays him is thoroughly impressive (as are all of the main characters in this film, really) and it's nice to have a tie to other films (ironically, there is a "sequel" that doesn't include this character, has nothing to do with this film plotwise, and stars Donnie Yen in a different role than he played in the first film. Go figure).

Third, the aforementioned Donnie Yen, who plays Wong Fei Hung's father, is fantastic. Kung fu fans are most likely to recognize him from his role in the second Once Upon a Time in China film (where he played a city official of some sort who was rather incredibly handy with sticks and bits of cloth...). I think Yen has a fair shot at being one of the next crossover stars in the tradition of Jet Li -- he's got the looks, he seems to be a decent actor, and of course his working relationship with Yuen Woo Ping can't hurt. I see he had a role in Highlander: Endgame and I'm tempted to check it out, despite my general antipathy for all things Highlander^tm.

Fourth (this being a postscript), the movie is apparently being released to American theaters in Fall 2001, presumably due to the success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. This is an exciting time for fans of subtitled films like myself. Go see it.

Things that you probably didn't know about Iron Monkey...

• The movie was intended to be a prequel to the "Once Upon a Time in China" series. The literal translation of the Chinese title pretty much says it all - "Iron Monkey: Young Wong Fei-Hung". Plus, the film was produced by Tsui Hark, director of "Once Upon a Time in China".



• Tsang Sze-Man played the young Wong Fei-Hung, the legendary doctor/martial-artist featured prominently in "Once Upon a Time in China" and played by Jet Li in that film. Sze-Man is a girl.



• There are TWO versions of the movie. The first is the original film released back in 1993. The second is the one released in 2001 by Miramax with a new score (James Venable), several cuts to scenes, new subtitles, and "presented" by Quentin Tarantino.¹



• The so-called sequel does star Donnie Yen but instead of continuing his character of Wong Kei-Ying, he plays Iron Monkey. This time, however, he's fighting arms dealers in a "Prohibition" era China.²



• There was an "Iron Monkey" movie released back in the 70s. Directed by and starring Kwan Tai Chen, the film's title mainly referred to the monkey fighting style and nothing to do with a young Wong Fei-Hung nor anything related to that story.



• Donnie Yen is a spectacular martial artist but time will tell whether he makes it big in North America. To date, the non-Asian productions that he's done include "Highlander: Endgame", "Blade II", and the upcoming "Shanghai Knights" (sequel to "Shanghai Noon" which, curiously enough, had Yu Rong-Guang in a small role as an Imperial guard).

Iron Monkey: Young Wong Fei-Hung

Starring

1 - My opinion? Watch the original version. The cuts were unnecessary as was the new score. Throughout the film, there are subtle references to things that some people won't understand without having seen other Chinese films beyond "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". These references have been mostly removed from the film in fear that nobody would understand them - including the score (fans of "Once Upon a Time in China" will understand what I mean). Just because they didn't dub the film in English doesn't mean that the movie you're seeing is the authentic product.

2 - Sequel is very bad. Don't bother.

3 - The Miramax version touts the film as being produced by Quentin Tarantino. Other than maybe suggesting to Miramax that they should cash in by releasing a classic Hong Kong kung-fu film, I strongly question the direct involvement of Mr. Tarantino in the "production" of the film.