We’ve seen this before (sans the jumping and spinning)
Dr. Yang isn’t your normal doctor. He moonlights as a vigilante named the ‘Iron Monkey’. He is a modern day Robin Hood who steals from the rich to give to the poor; not a bad thing. When he steals too much, though, he gets a price put on his head by a ruthless Governor who has had too much taken from him thanks to the Iron Monkey. Bad and good collide in this epic tale of chivalry through giving.
I have mixed feelings about Iron Monkey. I have always loved the moral creed that the rich should unwillingly give to the poor. That type of storyline is always fun as the ‘bad guys’ always get theirs in the end. It also creates hope for people watching a simple movie thinking that there is a way to overcome their own situations; it basically provides the right message, even if it’s through violence. This one was tough to watch after the standards that Hero set. Instead of a unique storyline lead through visuals and artistic flavor, you have yourself a beat ’em up that loses some luster somewhere in the middle. Granted it brings it back towards the end, but the story has been done before and it’s tough to reinvent it.
With that said, I do commend the choreographer. This film was released in 1993 and was way ahead of the curve in terms of how fight scenes were shot. If you took this film and compared it say something like Rapid Fire (starring Brandon Lee) you would simply laugh at Rapid Fire. China knew how to make action films and saw that there was a market about to spring up in America. Regretfully we were years away from the first movie of this type to go mainstream on the stateside (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). To this point the only great action that we saw was Enter the Dragon. Everything after that was done with brutish American action (Predator, Commando, True Lies, etc.).
Preserving the Hood
While nearly twenty years old, Iron Monkey looked positively gorgeous in HD. Not the best transfer for a movie, mind you, but good enough to be called ‘better than DVD’. There are still film graininess here and there, but nothing that will truly ruin the experience. As for the audio, you’ve got yourself the same situation that Hero faced; no HD for the original Chinese track.
As for features, you merely get two interviews (one with Quentin Tarantino and one with star Donnie Yen).