Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

Iron Monkey Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 9, 2018

Produced by Tsui Hark and directed by Yuen Woo-ping, "Iron Monkey" (1993) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Eureka Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include a vintage trailer for the film as well as numerous archival interviews with cast and crew members. In Cantonese, Mandarin or English, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

Dangerous

The plot of is simple: Twelve-year old Wong Fei-hung (Tsang Sze-man) and his father, Kung Fu master Wong Kei-ying (Donnie Yen, Kill Zone, Ip Man), arrive in the city of Chekiang. After a quick altercation with the corrupt governor’s (James Wong, Rich Man) soldiers, Fei-Hung is detained and Kei-ying told that if he wants to see his son again he must track down and arrest Iron Monkey, a mysterious troublemaker. Kei-ying immediately agrees but quickly realizes that the locals would not cooperate because Iron Monkey is their idol. At the food market, a few of Chekiang’s residents even openly confront him when he attempts to buy some noodles.

While wandering around Chekiang, Kei-ying meets Dr. Wang (Yu Rong-guang, Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon) and his beautiful assistant, Miss Orchid (Jean Wang, Once Upon a Time in China IV). They welcome him at their home, feed him, and then ask why he is trying to capture Iron Monkey.

Fastforward. Things get complicated when an evil monk (Yen Shi-kwan, The Killer in White) arrives in Chekiang and starts breaking things. He is also after Iron Monkey but for different reasons. Eventually, Iron Monkey reveals himself and all hell breaks loose.

Produced by the legendary Tsui Hark and directed by Yuen Woo-ping, Iron Monkey is an entertaining period film whose story is deeply rooted in Chinese folklore. It blends humor, action, and drama in a way that should appeal to a wide variety of viewers.

However, unlike other similarly-themed films -- Jeff Lau’s A Chinese Odyssey films and Tsui Hark’s Zu Warriors quickly come to mind -- Iron Monkey does not rely on symbolic references; the main characters are placed in a world that looks exotic but feels familiar. Its story is more or less a Chinese rendition of Robin Hood’s story -- a man of honor sides with the poor and punishes the rich.

The main attraction in Iron Monkey are the terrifically choreographed fights. Future martial arts superstar Yen is right in the middle of a few fantastic scenes that are definitely worth seeing more than once. (The umbrella scene, in particular, is quite remarkable). There are impressive contributions by Yu, Wang, and the young Yen, who plays Kei-ying’s son.

During the final third of the film, where most of the mouth-watering action is, the creators of Iron Monkey offer something of a Kung Fu masterclass -- as Iron Monkey, his friends, and the evil monk begin fighting, just about all of their impressive kicks and spins are highlighted with a small description; there is valuable information about the deadly King-Kong palm, the sleek flying sleeves, etc.

There are also a few preachy moments where Kei-ying teaches his son how to react to provocations and learn to control his emotions that are not overly impressive, but in the grand scheme of things they are easily forgettable.

The production values are very good. While not too flashy, the visual effects are amongst the better ones seen in wire-fu films from the 1990s. The period decors and costumes are also elaborate. The editing, however, could and should have been much tighter.

*In 1994, Iron Monkey was nominated for Best Action Choreography Award (Yuen Woo-ping , Yuen Cheung-yan, Yuen Shun-yee, Kook Hin-chiu) at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

Iron Monkey Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Yuen Woo-ping's Iron Monkey arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment.

The release is sourced from a new 2K remaster that should make fans of the film who have been patiently waiting for a quality presentation to emerge on Blu-ray very happy. Indeed, the entire film now has a very strong and consistent organic appearance that makes it drastically easier to appreciate the artistic vision of its creators. So if you have seen the previous release Kam & Ronson Enterprises produced, which until now was the best option for English speakers that wanted to own the film on Blu-ray, expect to see serious improvements in terms of delineation, clarity, and of course depth. Also, this remaster introduces the type of proper grain structure that previous releases simply did not have, so if you view your films on a large screen, or even better project, you will see an entirely different type of proper fluidity. The remaster boasts a very nicely balanced color scheme as well -- the primaries are solid and wonderfully saturated and come with equally healthy nuances that support the film's native dynamic range. Image stability is excellent. All in all, this really is a lovely upgrade that will earn plenty of well-deserved complements. My score is 4.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Iron Monkey Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are five standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Cantonese: LPCM Mono, Cantonese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Mandarin: LPCM 2.0, English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, and English: LPCM Mono. Optional English and English SDH subtitles are provided for main feature.

In addition to the Cantonese mono track this film had an original Cantonese remix, and in the United States Disney of course produced the English dub. On the old release that Kam & Ronson Enterprises produced there was only a Cantonese: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track which served the film quite well but also had some balance abnormalities. So I viewed the entire film with the mono track and I am happy to report that it is very nice. There are still some segments where it is pretty obvious that some overdubbing was done which coupled with the additional audio effects creates dynamic unevenness, but at least on the mono track these sound like typical Hong Kong martial arts limitations. So, my guess is that people that like Iron Monkey will find this lossless track very attractive. There are no audio dropouts, pops, or digital distortions to report. The English translation is very good.

Iron Monkey Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - vintage trailer for Iron Monkey. In Cantonese, with optional English subtitles. (5 min).

• Interview with Donnie Yen - in this video interview, Donnie Yen discusses the historic identity of the character that he plays in Iron Monkey, Tsui Hark's vision of the character and Yuen Woo-ping's take on it, the fundamentals of martial arts history and the manner in which they are reflected in the film, the shooting process, etc. In English, not subtitled. (20 min).

• Interview with Producer Tsui Hark - in this video interview, legendary producer/director Tsui Hark discusses the development of his famous Wong-fei hung project, beginning with Once Upon a Time in China and ending with Iron Monkey as well as the type of hero that his work promotes. Also, there are specific comments about the production of Iron Monkey. In English, not subtitled. (25 min).

• Interview with Yu Rong-guang - in this video interview, actor Yu Rong-guang discusses his early work in the Peking Opera and contribution to Iron Monkey. In Mandarin, with optional English subtitles. (27 min).

• Interview with Li Fai - in this video interview, actress Li Fai recalls how she entered the film business as a "Kung Fu woman" and discusses her contribution to Iron Monkey. In Cantonese, with optional English subtitles. (26 min).

• Interview with Angie Tsang/Tsang Sze-man - in this video interview, actress Angie Tsang recalls how she learned martial arts and entered the film business, and discusses her involvement with Iron Monkey. In Cantonese, with optional English subtitles. (20 min).

• Iron Fist - the Choreography of Iron Monkey - in this video piece, action choreographer Cheung-Yan Yuen the visual style of Iron Monkey and technical nature of its famous action sequences. In Cantonese, with optional English subtitles. (16 min).

• Shadow Boxing with Alex Yip - this archival featurette offers a behind-the-scenes look at Hong Kong action choreography with legendary stuntman Alex Yup. On Iron Monkey, he did numerous fight sequences, stunt work, and 'wire-assisted action' for director Yuen Woo-ping. In English, not subtitled. (9 min).

• Li Fai and Angie Tsang at the 2003 Wu-shu Championship - presented here is archival footage from the 7th World Wu-shu Championship that was held in Macau in 2003. Actors Li Fai and Angie Tsang's performances are the highlights of this footage. (9 min).

• Booklet - an illustrated booklet featuring a brand new essay on the film as well as technical credits.

• Packaging - a limited edition O-card, which will be available only on the first print of the label's release.

Iron Monkey Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I think that the new 2K remaster for Iron Monkey is wonderful and will earn a lot of praise from fans of the film who have been patiently waiting for a quality presentation to emerge on Blu-ray. This upcoming release also gathers the vintage supplemental features that were produced for the film and made available on older foreign releases, so as far as I am concerned Eureka Entertainment have a total winner. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.