Iron Monkey (thing)

Things that you probably didn't know about Iron Monkey...

• The movie was intended to be a prequel to the "Once Upon a Time in China" series. The literal translation of the Chinese title pretty much says it all - "Iron Monkey: Young Wong Fei-Hung". Plus, the film was produced by Tsui Hark, director of "Once Upon a Time in China".



• Tsang Sze-Man played the young Wong Fei-Hung, the legendary doctor/martial-artist featured prominently in "Once Upon a Time in China" and played by Jet Li in that film. Sze-Man is a girl.



• There are TWO versions of the movie. The first is the original film released back in 1993. The second is the one released in 2001 by Miramax with a new score (James Venable), several cuts to scenes, new subtitles, and "presented" by Quentin Tarantino.¹



• The so-called sequel does star Donnie Yen but instead of continuing his character of Wong Kei-Ying, he plays Iron Monkey. This time, however, he's fighting arms dealers in a "Prohibition" era China.²



• There was an "Iron Monkey" movie released back in the 70s. Directed by and starring Kwan Tai Chen, the film's title mainly referred to the monkey fighting style and nothing to do with a young Wong Fei-Hung nor anything related to that story.



• Donnie Yen is a spectacular martial artist but time will tell whether he makes it big in North America. To date, the non-Asian productions that he's done include "Highlander: Endgame", "Blade II", and the upcoming "Shanghai Knights" (sequel to "Shanghai Noon" which, curiously enough, had Yu Rong-Guang in a small role as an Imperial guard).

Iron Monkey: Young Wong Fei-Hung

Starring

1 - My opinion? Watch the original version. The cuts were unnecessary as was the new score. Throughout the film, there are subtle references to things that some people won't understand without having seen other Chinese films beyond "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". These references have been mostly removed from the film in fear that nobody would understand them - including the score (fans of "Once Upon a Time in China" will understand what I mean). Just because they didn't dub the film in English doesn't mean that the movie you're seeing is the authentic product.

2 - Sequel is very bad. Don't bother.

3 - The Miramax version touts the film as being produced by Quentin Tarantino. Other than maybe suggesting to Miramax that they should cash in by releasing a classic Hong Kong kung-fu film, I strongly question the direct involvement of Mr. Tarantino in the "production" of the film.