In the small province that this movie takes place in, the local governor, Cheng (James Wong), has had a rash of robberies as a masked vigilante runs around at night stealing from him and his employees, only to redistribute the wealth back to the poor citizens of the area. Tasked with stopping this Iron Monkey (whose secret identity is an herbal doctor named Yang and played by Rongguang Yu) is the hapless Chief Fox (Shun-Yee Yuen). For the most part, the constant game of cat and mouse (or should I say fox and monkey) always results in the black-clad Robin Hood getting away at the last minute. But when the Explorer's Minister, a Shaolin traitor named Hiu Hung (Shi-Kwan Yen) announces that he is coming to make an inspection and get rid of Iron Monkey once and for all, Cheng has everyone who might be the vigilante arrested and questioned.
Unfortunately for a traveling doctor, Wong Kei Ying (Donnie Yen), and his young son, Wong Fei Hung (Sze-Man Tsang), they are also arrested. When Iron Monkey attacks the court in an attempt to free the wrongfully-arrested citizens, Wong Kei Ying goes after the man exclaiming that it is because of him that all of these innocents are threatened. The pair appears to be evenly matched and when Iron Monkey escapes, Cheng has Wong Fei Hung put in the dungeon until his father can track down and capture the masked menace.
Shunned by the merchants of the town because he is going after their hero, Wong Kei Ying ends up at Dr. Yang's house and quickly befriends him and his girlfriend Miss Orchid (Jean Wang). Of course, Kei Ying doesn't realize his new friends are the same people he is looking for (Miss Orchid sometimes joins Iron Monkey in his adventures, you see), but when the doctor and his lady are able to get Kei Ying's son out of the dungeon, even the realization of Yang's alter-ego doesn't break their friendship.
Instead, the pair - well, actually all four characters since Orchid and Fei Hung do a lot to help - go up against Hiu Hing and his band of renegade monks. The fights seen throughout the film are fun and fantastical with the heavy use of wires and quite a few mystical abilities like Hiu Hing's Poison Buddha's Palm. But there are also some impressive normal fight sequences as well, like Wong Fei Hung's use of the staff against a band of monks, showing just a bit of the talent he will posses later in life as one of China's greatest folk heroes.
Actually, while the main story is about Iron Monkey and Wong Kei Ying, the true tale being told is this early adventure Wong Fei Hung has since there are several points where Dr. Yang talks about the child's training and the movie's ending text explains how the boy would go on to put a stop to the renegade Shaolin Monks towards the end of the Qing Dynasty.
I hadn't realized until watching both Iron Monkey and The Legend of Drunken Master back-to-back that this character, Wong Fei Hung, was not only a focus in both films, but many, many more, and that information was expanded upon quite a bit in the Quentin Tarantino interview found on this Blu-ray. Not only does Tarantino talk about Fei Hung's appearances in many martial arts films, but he also recounts his personal experiences growing up with these films and his love for them, which, of course, explains why he was such a big influence in bringing films like Iron Monkey and Hero to the West. Tarantino's interview is complimented by one with Donnie Yen, a master martial artist in his own right who has been in many movies (including Hero). In this interview, Yen talks about how he got into films and how he never would have thought that this was the direction he would end up going in his life.
Iron Monkey is a really solid modern martial arts movie. If you like the graceful wire work seen in films like Hero and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, then you will really enjoy this film as well. Plus the high definition version of this film really adds a lot to the overall feel. Everything from the deep blacks of Iron Monkey's suit to the colorful garments that Hiu Hing and Cheng wear just look right. And while the Blu-ray doesn't come with any additional special features over the previous DVD release, the increase in video and audio quality alone might be enough to buy this version of the movie over the older format's, if you don't already own the film, of course.
