Movie:
Iron Monkey, originally released in 1993, was directed by Yuen Woo Ping, who later went on to choreograph the fight scenes in the Matrix. The film stars Yu Rong Guang (Dr. Yang/Iron Monkey) and Donnie Yen (Wong Kei-Ying). Iron Monkey owes quite a lot to the tales of "Robin Hood" as it's essentially the same story (stealing from the rich to give to the poor) only with martial arts instead of bows and arrows.

A small Chinese town suffers from numerous corrupt officials, who overly tax the poor. The town's doctor secret disguises himself as the "Iron Monkey," and at night, he strikes the rich and takes their money, jewels, and gold. He then delegates this wealth to the needy. The officials, determined to capture him, arrest everyone with any association to the name "monkey." Two such arrested are Wong Kei-Ying and Wong Fei-Hung, his son. In order for the others captured to be released, Wong Kei-Ying promises to apprehend the Iron Monkey within a week. His son is retained, however. But the Iron Monkey soon frees Wong Fei-Hung and takes him in. His father is unaware of this, but soon discovers that the Iron Monkey is indeed trying to help the people of the town. When his son is recaptured, the two team up to get him back.

Iron Monkey is easily one of the best and more entertaining "wire-fu" movies that I've seen. The action is incredible; both Donnie Yen and Yu Rong Guang engage in some great martial arts. The story itself has a few twists and is fairly interesting, but its nothing overly complex.

Picture:
Iron Monkey is presented in 1.85:1 non-anamorphic widescreen. The transfer looks better than most Hong Kong films that I've seen, but it still has its faults. There are some specks, scratches, and marks that appear throughout, along with some grain and shimmer. Colors do occasionally appear muted, but most often they're vibrant. Flesh tones are accurate throughout and blacks are decent.

Sound:
Iron Monkey is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround in Cantonese and Mandarin and Dolby Mono 1.0 in English. The English track is very soft and muted in comparison to the 5.1 tracks, which sound much more full. The English dub is also especially bad. The 5.1 tracks with subtitles are, by far, the way to go. Rear surrounds are used infrequently, but the front soundstage is fairly active. Subtitles are available in Traditional and Simplified Chinese, English, Japanese, Bahasa Malaysia, Thai, Vietnamese, and Spanish.

Extras:
Extras include: bios and filmographies for Tsui Hark (producer), Yuen Woo Ping, Donnie Yen, and Yu Rong Guang; the film's trailer; the Media Asia trailer featuring clips from A Better Tomorrow 1-3 and Police Story 1-3; and a text synopsis of the film.

Summary:
Fans of "wire-fu" and Hong Kong action films should definitely give Iron Monkey a look as its easily one of the best in the genre that I've seen. Highly Recommended!