Donnie Yen may have been a relatively obscure figure to the wider western audience until his role in Star Wars: Rogue One, but he’s long been revered among Kung Fu movie aficionados as one of the best in the business; and while 1993’s Iron Monkey wasn’t necessarily where it all began, it was without a doubt a high point of Yen’s early career. It’s also notable as a career highlight of its director, the esteemed fight choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping, who went on to have a major impact on how Hollywood staged its action sequences in the years ahead.
On top of all this, Iron Monkey is also one of the key films to centre on Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-Hung, a real-life figure whose exploits have been portrayed – to, we can safely assume, somewhat exaggerated effect – by Jackie Chan in the Drunken Master movies (also directed by Yuen Woo-Ping) , and Jet Li in the Once Upon A Time In China series (the work of Tsui Hark, also the producer of Iron Monkey). However, things are a little different here, as Donnie Yen portrays not Fei-Hung but his father, Wong Kei-Ying, himself a hugely significant figure in Kung Fu – yet even he is not the title character, although beyond the first act he does become the ostensible lead.
It is a time of gross inequality, in which corrupt officials hoard the wealth while the poor struggle to survive. Yet there is one person who the impoverished can count on to have their back: a mysterious masked martial arts master known only as Iron Monkey (Rongguang Yu), who by day works as a physician, tending to the grave medical needs of those who cannot afford to pay for treatment. Into this environment comes Yen’s Wong Kei-Ying and his young son Wong Fei-Hung (actually portrayed by female martial artist Sze-Man Tsang AKA Angie Tsang). After displaying his martial arts prowess on the rough streets, Kei-Ying is taken into custody on suspicion of being Iron Monkey. Protesting his innocence, and under fear for his son’s life, Kei-Ying agrees to find and arrest the real Iron Monkey himself. However, his struggle to identify the local hero leads him to understand who the real enemy is.
Now, while I may have spent a fair portion of my life watching martial arts movies, I’ll readily admit I’m about as far from an expert on the subject as you can be. Even so, it’s not hard to look at Iron Monkey and see some real progression into how the screen portrayal of martial arts evolved in the 1990s, primarily thanks to the use of wire work. We have a succession of remarkable action set pieces in which the fighters flagrantly disobey the laws of physics: changing direction in mid-air, balancing on objects which clearly can’t hold their weight, and so forth. Refreshingly though, these effects were realised in a time before CGI became commonplace, and while this means that here and there the wires hoisting up the actors are visible, it doesn’t make the spectacle any less palpable. The key thing is, the wires are not doing everything: the skill of the performers, and the attention to detail in the choreography is undeniable, and while obviously it demands a smidgen more suspension of disbelief than usual, you can’t not be impressed.
Another important thing to note is that, while the out-of-this-world action lends an air of fantasy to proceedings, Iron Monkey still handles the harsh realities of life in late 19th century China in a fairly blunt and uncompromising fashion. I must admit I’m a little surprised the BBFC have passed the film with a 12, given that it’s forthright in its portrayal of prostitution and violence against women and children, plus it sports a number of relatively gruesome deaths. This leads to a greater level of real emotional investment than we might necessarily anticipate from a standard Hong Kong beat-’em-up, aided significantly by the dramatic gravitas that Donnie Yen, Rongguang Yu and Jean Wang bring to the table. Still, this is no to suggest that Iron Monkey is totally serious; there’s still plenty of that distinctly Hong Kong brand of exaggerated comedy.
25 years on it’s not hard to see how Iron Monkey helped pave the way for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, The Matrix and the influx of wire-fu in Hollywood, but more importantly it stands up as a hugely entertaining film in its own right, which martial arts enthusiasts will doubtless find endlessly rewatchable. This handsome Blu-ray edition is packed with extras (many replicated from the earlier Hong Kong Legends DVD), including interviews with Donnie Yen, Tsui Hark and others, plus some behind the scenes featurettes, and footage of Angie Tsang and stuntwoman Li Fai competing in the 2003 Wu Shu Championships. The first print of the Blu-ray also has a limited edition collector’s card.
Iron Monkey is available now on Blu-ray in the UK, from Eureka Home Entertainment.