Customer Reviews

Iron Monkey

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Iron Monkey, if you didn't know, is one of the best martial arts movies ever made. If you're reading about this edition rather than the cheaper and more popular Miramax version, you probably do know that.

This is the original version of Iron Monkey released in Hong Kong in 1993. As far as I can tell, it's the only Region 1 version of the original edit available right now. Unlike the Miramax version, it includes uncut fight scenes and the original music and sound effects, while dispensing with the explanatory prologue. That, however, is the best that can be said for this version. Though it recycles the cover art for the superb Hong Kong Legends edition (right down to the HKL logo), it doesn't include any of that version's special features (it doesn't have any except for a few trailers), the picture quality is lousy and the subtitles often nonsensical. Though Iron Monkey is a five-star movie on its own merits, I can't rate this edition that highly. Maybe Dragon Dynasty will someday, finally, give this movie a proper North American release.

The disc works. It plays. ...And the movie is excellent!

I have to write at least twenty words? Okay:
Iron Monkey is a fantastic blend of quality choreography with a plot and setting that are typical to the beloved classic kung-fu genre.

I was finally able to find the same version that a Thai freind of mine owns. Much better than the one released in the US. The English dub, however, lacks in its accuracy.

This is in short, the best martial arts film to date.
It has great wire works, great fighting, great storyline.
Robin Hood meets shoalin. Wow!!!!