Pretends to be comedy, pretends to be drama... The only thing it is? A means to start kung fu fights anytime, with FX very vintage, to say it nicely

A typical action film from the 90s. Not outstanding but passes the time.

The greatest 01 hour: and 25 minutes ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL, starring James Wong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is just playful king fu. Not a serious plot at all but so much creativity in the fight scenes. I'm not a huge fan of martial arts films but the short run time made this one just about palatable.

You like RRR? Want to see the martial arts version? Two martial arts masters with day jobs come to know one another as friends - one a folk hero by night, the other a wanderer who finds himself tasked with hunting the vigilante down (not knowing his new friend is his target). Nominally it's a loose adaptation of the Robin Hood mythos integrated with an origin story of Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hung (who appears as a child in this film), but it's hard all these years later to not see shades of the S.S. Rajamouli film (RRR) despite the fact that this predates it by almost three decades. While Ang Lee was giving martial arts movies more of a serious flair in the '90s and '00s, Yuen Woo-ping preserves much of Hong Kong's balance between really solid action choreography and pervasive humor in Iron Monkey. It's light as a film, with antagonists that never really feel terribly threatening, but really shines with some top-notch fight design that straddles the line between impressive and mythic. And by mythic, I mean suspended by wires. Seriously, the action is impressive enough that I'd bump the score over what is otherwise a well-made but pretty unsurprising folk tale brought to the screen, Donnie Yen is in top form. Weird that this took almost eight years to go from completion to a wide US release. (3.5/5)

A little bit predictable but very enjoyable movie !

I enjoyed this a lot more than some other Hong Kong action movies I'd seen as I now had enough experience to forgive the overly-convenient plot devices and hyperbolized characters to enjoy the fight scenes and underlying story. I would've preferred a more uniform use of magic if they were going to use it at all but I suppose they did give it to both of the villains, and I would've preferred to have seen the original rather than the Miramax-tampered one as political subtext is what butters my biscuit and the fight scenes likely would've benefitted from the comedy that the studio excised. The fights themselves were clearly well-executed, though nearly all of them had gimmicks that took away one's suspension of disbelief if you cared too much as every main villain used supernatural tactics and the final fight on the stilts didn't seem particularly plausible. I've enjoyed other gimmicky finale fight scenes like the ladder one at the end of The Musketeer and this one was fine, just not as great as I felt it could've been. Still, I liked the movie and am glad to have seen it.

Avec ce prequel très peu déguisé de la saga Wong Fei Hung (le film est écrit et produit par Tsui Hark, tandis que les thèmes musicaux de la saga sont omniprésents), Yuen Woo-Ping réalise un sacré bon film d'action avec cet Iron Monkey. Sorte de Robin des Bois chinois délirant, avec les gags absurdement débiles que cela entraine, Iron Monkey est surtout un véhicule pour Donnie Yen et Yuen Woo-Ping lui-même, les chorégraphies étant totalement renversantes. Le tiers du cast est allé travailler sur Matrix quelques années plus tard, il n'y a aucune surprise là-dedans. A la fois vraiment drôle, passionnant (à moins de 90 minutes, le film ne dépasse pas son quart d'heure de bienvenue) et extrêmement compétent, Iron Monkey peut être considéré comme un classique HK des années 90, mention spéciale à la future championne asiatique de wushu, Angie Tsang, formidable en Wong Fei-Hung.

Just a real good time.

I liked kung fu movies when I was a little kid, but as I grew older I found them less and less appealing. This is probably the only kung fu movie I actually like, and yes, I have seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I've also seen Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer. Okay, Shaolin Soccer was pretty decent, too, now that I think of it. Anyway, back to this movie. It has great fight scenes, better than anything in almost all of the MCU, DCEU, Chris Nolan, or Bryan Singer movies. Some reviewers have complained that they couldn't take this movie seriously. Um, this movie isn't meant to be a serious drama like say, Schindler's List or The Godfather. This is meant to be a lighthearted, fun, breezy action movie. And that it is.

Pretty fantastic martial arts fun. It's Robin Hood mixed with Crouching Tiger, but it's much more fast paced, juvenile and entertaining with its wire-fu than that critical darling. Some really great fight sequences you're not soon to forget.

55% Saw this on 12/6/16 A shallow movie with some good eye candy, but that too not surprisingly new for these Kung-fu films. The film's plot is a joke and what kills is the meager running time of 85 minutes.

one of my personal favorites

The laudatory reviews and high scores given to this film are proof of declining critical faculties as well as mindless devotion to all things martial art in a film. I couldn't watch this entire film, because I found it so laughable in its lame story and farcical action scenes. Compared to much better films in this genre-- say, the Ip Man films or Dragon, also with Donnie Yen--this one is a travesty, insulting to the audience's intelligence and derivative in the most ridiculous ways. I wasn't surprised that Quentin Tarantino was involved to some extent, because it has the comic book superficiality and stagey excesses I dislike so much in films that he directs. This one is just dumb, even with the earnest performances by the actor playing the Iron Monkey and by Donnie Yen, who is largely wasted here.

"Iron Monkey" is absurd in almost every way, but it's also immensely entertaining.

A super fun and wacky kung-fu movie that springs with spirited performances.

Iron Monkey is exhilarating and fast-paced. The action choreography is almost flawless, with the viewer rarely becoming confused or bored with the rapid stunts, which is a huge accomplishment for the talented Yuen Woo-ping. Iron Monkey is a superior example of the "wire-fu" genre.

Good old Kung-Fu Action Movie

Highly entertaining! Badass martial arts stunts.

Amazing martial arts film from director Woo-Ping Yuen, who's best known to american audiences as the fight choreographer for the Matrix films. This film is a fictionalized tale about legendary Chinese hero Wong Fei-hung as a child. A martial artist/doctor steals from the corrupt authorities as the masked thief Iron Monkey to give to the poor while another martial artist/doctor, Donnie Yen as Fei-hung's father, is forced to hunt him down. But a major threat unites them as a powerful and traitorous Shaolin monk takes over the authorities.. Donnie Yen is spectacular as Fei-hung's father and is the one Hong Kong star who I an really disappointed has never had a shot at the American market with a quality vehicle. His best US film appearance to date is probably a supporting role in Guillermo del Toro's "Blade II." The Mirimax cut of this film, which is what I watched, is quite changed form the original version, which I've never seen. Despite the changes from the original, this film stands out as a stellar material arts film and is essential viewing for fans of the genre.