Iron Monkey (1993 film)

Iron Monkey
Theatrical release poster
Traditional	少年黃飛鴻之鐵馬騮
Simplified	少年黄飞鸿之铁马骝
Mandarin	Shāonián Huáng Fēihǒng zhī Tiě Mǎliú
Cantonese	Siu3nin4 Wong4 Fei1hung4 zi1 Tit3 Maa5lau4
Directed by	Yuen Woo-ping
Produced by	Tsui Hark
Written by	Tsui Hark
Starring	Donnie Yen Yu Rongguang Jean Wang Angie Tsang Yuen Shun-yi
Music by	Richard Yuen (Hong Kong) James L. Venable (USA) Johnny Yeung William Hu Chow Gam-wing
Cinematography	Arthur Wong Tam Chi-wai
Editing by	Marco Mak Angie Lam Andy Chan
Studio	Golden Harvest Long Shong Pictures Ltd. Paragon Films Ltd. Film Workshop Co. Ltd.
Distributed by	Golden Harvest Gala Film Distribution Ltd.
Release date(s)	September 3, 1993 (1993-09-03)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Cantonese
Gross revenue	HK$6,977,084.00

Iron Monkey is a 1993 Hong Kong martial arts film written and produced by Tsui Hark and directed by martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo-ping, and starring Donnie Yen and Yu Rongguang. It was a remake of the 1977 film of the same name.

The film is a fictionalized account of an episode in the childhood of Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hung and his father Wong Kei-ying (Donnie Yen), and their encounter with the "Iron Monkey" (Yu Rongguang). In 1995, a separate film entitled Iron Monkey 2 was released. The film also starred actor Donnie Yen and Billy Chow. Yen portrayed the "Iron Monkey" in the film, but it was not a sequel to the 1993 film.

Plot

The plot centers on a masked pugilist known as "Iron Monkey". Iron Monkey is actually the alter ego of a Chinese physician named Yang Tianchun. In the day, Yang runs his clinic and provides free medical treatment for the poor, which he subsidizes by charging his rich patients. At night, he dresses in black and travels around town to rob the rich and help the poor. Once, he breaks into the governor's residence and makes off with a hoard of gold. The guards and four Shaolin monks are unable to stop him. The governor orders the chief constable, Fox, to hunt down Iron Monkey and to arrest anyone who is linked to monkeys in any way. Fox appears to be a bungler who is not aware that Iron Monkey is actually the physician who is treating his injured men who had fought with Iron Monkey the previous night.

In the meantime, a physician-martial artist from Foshan, named Wong Kei-ying, arrives in town with his young son, Wong Fei-hung. Wong Kei-ying fights with street thugs who attempt to rob him and some soldiers who have been observing the fight nearby suspect that Wong is Iron Monkey and they arrest him and his son. During the trial, the governor orders Wong Fei-hung to be branded for defiance, but Iron Monkey shows up and disrupts the proceedings. Wong Kei-ying is eager to prove his innocence and he fights with Iron Monkey. Neither of them is able to defeat his opponent and Iron Monkey escapes. The governor is impressed by Wong Kei-ying's skill and he holds Wong Fei-hung hostage to force Wong Kei-ying to help him capture Iron Monkey in seven days.

The locals despise Wong Kei-ying for assisting the governor in capturing their hero, so they refuse to sell him food or provide him with shelter. Wong eventually arrives at Yang's clinic and is taken in by Yang and Miss Orchid, while he is still unaware of Yang's true identity. With help from Fox, Yang manages to bring Wong Fei-hung, who has fallen sick, out of prison and keeps him in his clinic. Wong Fei-hung learns new martial arts from Yang and Miss Orchid, during his stay with them.

Meanwhile, a Shaolin traitor named Hin-hung, who has become an imperial official, arrives in town with his followers. Hin-hung takes over as the new governor. Iron Monkey and Wong Kei-ying run into Hin-hung and his men in two separate encounters and they are severely wounded by him. They retreat back to the clinic, where Wong is surprised to discover that Yang is actually Iron Monkey. They assist each other and recover from their wounds quickly. Concurrently, Hin-hung orders his men to search the town for Iron Monkey and Wong Kei-ying, but Chief Fox gets to the clinic first to warn Orchid: It turns out that Chief Fox has known the Iron Monkey's identity all along and has secretly helped to protect him.

Hin-hung's men eventually find their way to the clinic and they engage Orchid in a fight. When Orchid proves far too skillful for the monks, they drug her and attempt to rape her. She is saved by Fei Hung, who continues the battle with the monks using the staff skills he had learnt from Yang and Orchid. Although Fei-hung is able to defeat the monks, he is captured and tortured. Orchid escapes to warn Wong Kei-Ying and Iron Monkey.

Iron Monkey and Wong Kei-ying (now wearing an Iron Monkey costume) break into the governor's residence to rescue Fei-hung. They have a final confrontation with Hin-hung on top of burning wooden poles. After an intense fight, Iron Monkey and Wong defeat Hin-hung and knock him down into the inferno below. At the end of the film, the protagonists learn that a new governor has taken office and they hope that he will be a good official. The Wongs leave town for Foshan while Yang and Orchid see them off. Chief Fox says that he would like to visit the Wongs, but that he is too busy "trying to catch that Iron Monkey." After the film, screen captions inform viewers that Yang and Orchid were married, and that Wong Fei-hung, inspired by his father and the Iron Monkey, became a great champion of the Chinese people and restored honor to the Shaolin Society.

Cast

• Donnie Yen as Wong Kei-ying
• Yu Rongguang as Yang Tianchun / Iron Monkey
• Jean Wang as Orchid Ho
• Angie Tsang as Wong Fei-hung
• Yen Shi-kwan as Hin-hung
• James Wong as Governor Cheng
• Yuen Shun-yi as Chief Fox
• Lee Fai as White Eagle
• Hsiao Ho as Disfigured Swordsman (Twin Swords)
• Dang Tai-wo
• Chan Siu-wah
• Mandy Chan
• Cheung Fung-lei
• William Duen
• Chun Kwai-bo
• Alex Yip
• Lam Chi-tai
• Shut Mei-yee
• Dion Lam
• Ling Chi-hung

Reception

The film's domestic release was delayed due to producer Tsui Hark's insistence on filming some additional comedic scenes after Yuen Woo-ping had finished the film. According to an interview with Tsui on the Iron Monkey DVD, this delay may have had a negative effect on the film's box office returns.

The film was given a wide release in the United States by Miramax Films, backed by director Quentin Tarantino. It opened in October 2001 on 1,225 screens earning just over $6 million in its opening weekend and more than $14 million overall. It received good reviews in America, and became the 11th highest-grossing foreign language film in the US. The film received favorable reviews from critics, and it has a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film was ranked #99 in Empire magazines "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010.

Numerous controversial edits and changes were made to the film for the US release, to the dismay of Hong Kong cinema fans.

Changes to the American version

In its release in 2001, Miramax made several changes that the company felt would make it more marketable to American audiences:

• Since most Americans are unfamiliar with the story of Wong Fei-hung, his name was removed from the title.
• The subtitles were tailored to diminish the political context of the story.
• Some scenes were trimmed to tone down the violence.
• Originally, some fight scenes had been sped up in places through undercranking. The U.S. release slowed these scenes down to a more normal pace.
• Several comedic scenes, particularly ones interspersed in the fight scenes, were removed to give the fights a more serious feel. Although such comedic devices are common in Hong Kong cinema, it was felt they might have seemed odd to an American audience.
• A new soundtrack was composed that emulated the classical score to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but in doing so the famous Wong Fei-hung theme was eliminated.
• New sound effects were dubbed for the fighting to make them more realistic (as opposed to the more traditional exaggerated Hong Kong sounds).

Home media

In Hong Kong the film was initially released by Megastar (later Deltamac) in a basic version. This version was released in the U.S. by Tai Seng. Later, it was re-released in Hong Kong by IVL in a digitally remastered edition in the Donnie Yen & Yuen Woo Ping Action Collection.

Miramax also released their version on DVD in the US and was also released on Blu-ray on Sept. 15, 2009 with the English audio in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and the Chinese audio in Dolby Digital 5.1.

DVD release

On March 26, 2001, DVD was released in Hong Kong Legends at UK in Region 2.

On March 1, 2004, DVD was released the film in 2 Disc Platinum Edition.

One year later, The Epic Action Collection DVD were released on December 26, 2005 at 4 disc set including two martial arts films were: Wing Chun and Tai Chi Boxer all three films directed by Yuen Woo-ping.

Five months later, The Donnie Yen Collection DVD were released on May 29, 2006 at 4 disc set including two martial arts films were: New Dragon Gate Inn and Once Upon a Time in China II.

See also

• Donnie Yen filmography

External links

• Iron Monkey at the Internet Movie Database
• Iron Monkey at AllRovi
• Iron Monkey at Rotten Tomatoes
• Review at Kung Fu Cinema
• HKMDB