Film: Iron Monkey
Release date: 1st March 2004
Certificate: 12
Running time: 86 mins
Director: Yuen Woo-ping
Starring: Rongguang Yu, Donnie Yen, Jean Wang, Yen Shi-Kwan, James Wong
Genre: Action/Comedy/Crime/Martial Arts
Studio: E1
Format: DVD
Country: Hong Kong
Tales of folk heroes and legends saturate the fabric of Chinese history and culture. Re-released and discovered by a wider audience after Yuen Woo-ping’s astonishing success choreographing Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Iron Monkey is a notable addition to the extensive list of historical legends committed to film. Directed by The Matrix choreographer and action master, and featuring Hong Kong and China’s most vaunted action star of the moment, Donnie Yen, Iron Monkey proves to be a short but well-crafted story.
Rong Kwong plays Dr. Yang, a good man who tends to the needs of the ill and hungry in his community for free but charges the well-off. Seeing refugees and the poorest people of the town trodden on by rich and corrupt Governor Cheng (Wong), Dr. Yang transforms himself at night into Iron Monkey to steal Cheng’s ill-gained wealth and fight for good.
Wong Kei Ying (Donnie Yen) arrives in town with his young son Wong Fei Hung (Tsang Sze-Man). Kei-Ying is a prominent master of the Hung-Gar style. Initially believed to be the title hero by Cheng, Kei-Ying fights to prove he is not the wanted outlaw, and goes after Iron Monkey himself to save his son being held as insurance by Cheng. Eventually he teams with Iron Monkey after realising they have similar principles. They battle against not only the corrupt town officials, but also Imperial minister Hin Hung – a traitor to his own Shaolin Temple, and a man with his own mission to stop the notorious and troublesome Iron Monkey…
Of course, it’s a Robin-Hood variation, yet this time we’ve two Robins willing to stand up and fight corruption and redistribute the wealth to the community’s neediest souls. Even though the title of the film boasts one hero, this is essentially a buddy movie, two righteous warriors who are willing to fight the evil disease denigrating their town.
Female support is solid from Jean Wang who plays Dr. Yang’s clinic assistant Orchid with a gentle air and subtlety. But more notable is the son of Kei-Ying, played by young actress Tsang Sze-Man. It’s an interesting cross-gender casting for the role of one of China’s most celebrated legends in Wong Fei-Hung. Sze-Man brings gravitas and subtle expression of emotion to the part that perhaps couldn’t be entrusted to a teenage boy.
Splashes of humour come from Dr. Yang’s cheeky teasing of the governor’s guards while tending the injuries his alter-ego has inflicted, although Rong Kwong is more at home taking the responsibility for the emotional core of the movie. His strength and kindness shine through when tending his patients and fighting for justice with honour against guards and officials.
Donnie Yen’s acting, especially in the aftermath of his son’s kidnap, proves to be lacklustre. His sadness just doesn’t convey or convince, and it’s noticeable he has worked on this aspect of his screen repertoire in recent years. The more emotionally-loaded scenes featuring Yen do stick and slow down the brisk pace built up from Woo-ping’s action segments.
It’s a very short film in which to explore corruption, the awful treatment of displaced refugees, and the relationships between Dr. Yang and Orchid, as well as Kei-Ying and his son. It leaves the viewer feeling short-changed about these points, and if it is vying for a more gentle exploration then more comedy and light-heartedness would’ve evened the tone.
Woo-ping offers us some quite impressive slices of wire-work - seeing Iron Monkey jump up and through a hole in the roof to land deftly on the tiles being one highlight. We’re also treated to Yen’s undeniable speed and agility when it comes to his hand-work. His quick moves solidly display practiced form, and help distract from the lack of depth in his acting.
The final reel sees our heroes go up against the traitorous Shaolin monk Hin Hung. Stilted speech about righteousness aside; it’s a riotous two-on-one affair which sees the monk crash through a brick wall and our heroes thrown into wooden struts. They indulge in pole-top balancing kung-fu, too, with the aid of wire-pulls. Woo-ping knows how to deliver an exceptional closing fight scene, and the flaming stick scene is pulsating. In lesser hands it may have appeared overblown, but Woo-ping once again shows that he is a master of standard physical interplay as well as wire-work choreography – even if belief is shattered by a flaming pole to the monk’s head (clearly a rubber dummy!).
Iron Monkey may not be amongst the best of Yuen Woo-ping’s enviable filmography, nor of the ever-growing list of historical hero endeavours, but it is a short and fun exponent of the historical hero genre. JM
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