Iron Monkey – 1993 – A Kung Fu Classic!
Iron Monkey is one of those movies that I never saw, but always wanted to see. Finally, I’ve seen it. It was very entertaining! I think we can leave the plot aside really. It’s about this Robin Hood kind of character but in the Far East. I don’t really know if the Iron Monkey is part of Chinese folklore. I wouldn’t be surprised but it doesn’t matter anyway. It’s a classic story about a masked avenger stealing and punishing the rulers and giving whatever he gains to the poor and needy. It’s a familiar story, at least for us Westerners.
But I don’t really care about the story. The one thing I care about in Iron Monkey is the action scenes. They are very innovative and entertaining. Sure, we have seen flying swordsmen and pole-balancing fighters in other movies. But this is very well-paced and if you look down for a moment you might miss some glorious take of a pot getting thrown on a spear, then the spear knocks over a frying pan, which in turn… you know where it will end. Either the good or the bad guy will get hit by something There are a lot of this kind of humorous scenes in Iron Monkey.
Comedy?
I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be a comedy though. It’s kind of hard to make that assumption when the language is Chinese and the subtitles are in English. How can I be sure that the subtitle has subtitled the film correctly? If it’s done accurately it’s hilarious at times. If not, then all Westerners not familiar with the Chinese language are fooled. I choose to believe that it’s correctly done and that the dialog is correct. It also corresponds with some of the sounds the actors make. Of course, I cannot determine the tone of the language but I can listen and hear if it sounds aggressive, humourous, or sad.
On this that is actually both funny and annoying is that the martial artist needs to name all their moves as they make them. It doesn’t seem very realistic. But if it’s meant as a comedy, the realistic point of point isn’t a factor anyway. On the other hand, the fighting scenes altogether are not very realistic and I’m sure that they are not meant to be. They are meant to be entertaining and funny. I don’t need any translation for that. But there is also some over-the-top violence. There are bloody scenes where both women fight and are being fought bloody. There are scenes where a child is being tortured. Those scenes are not very graphic but there’s still blood and they’re still violent.
Not typical Hollywood!
I think that is an interesting aspect. If you look at entertainment violence in Hollywood, there are certain rules that’s never broken. The violence is never more brutal than to a certain extent. If it’s not really exaggerated and blood splashes everywhere, body parts fly through the air and that kind of stuff. But here, even though there’s entertainment value in the fighting scenes people still get very hurt. In a Hollywood film, they would hit a person again and again but there will never be any blood, and in the end, the hero will embody enough willpower to beat the bad guy bloody. I’m speaking in general stereotypical terms of course. I’m well aware that there are exceptions. But Iron Monkey is still different!
This is the best Kung-Fu fighting film I’ve seen in a long time!
