Movie Pick

Much Butt Is Well Kicked

originally published October 17, 2001

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Subtitles. Ask your average American theatre-goers why they're so quick to pass up a foreign film, and the answer "subtitles" comes quicker than a shadowless kick. Iron Monkey is no exception. The subtitles use accurate English grammar, though they have been diluted to mere commonspeak, sacrificing certain aspects of Chinese culture in exchange for one-dimensional utterances. One change greatly appreciated is dropping the last name of the character of female star Jean Wang: the Iron Monkey's assistant carried the unfortunate name of Orchid Ho and was shortened to stifle any laughter that would result from her being called "Miss Ho."

The film's plot is nothing groundbreaking, yet its strong collection of Chinese archetypes and heroes provides a compelling backdrop. A corrupt government causes a man to become an outlaw known as the Iron Monkey, who steals from the rich to satisfy the needs of the poor. The government, unable to combat the Iron Monkey's impressive kung fu, unjustly imprisons the son of traveling merchant Wong Kei-Ying (Donnie Yen) after witnessing him fighting well and forces the merchant to track the outlaw. (Interestingly, his son is Won Fei-Hung, who is the protagonist in the highly popular Once Upon a Time in China saga, played here by the cross-dressed young woman, Sze-Man Tsang. Got it?).

As Wong begins to track the masked bandit, he forms a friendship with Dr. Yang (Rongguang Yu), secretly the Iron Monkey. Together they eventually form an alliance to defeat a powerful rogue monk, now an official courtier of the Emperor.

The atmosphere throughout the film is more playfully comic and less tragic than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, yet director and fight choreographer Yuen Woo Ping (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Matrix) assaults the senses with thrilling wire work, dazzling fight sequences and ample imagination.