Iron Monkey 2

source: Iron Monkey 2

If you want an example of what happens in Hong Kong when an Original movie succeeds watch this one. Iron Monkey 1 did fabulously well. Which leads me to believe that the Hong Kong tradition of spurting out another sequel (or in this case a seeming knockoff) is painfully obvious here. This piece of garbage looks like it was shot in 1964. I honestly jumped on the net and looked up when this film was shot. There is no way in hell that this can even be compared to Iron Monkey 1. I think a better name for it would be Masked Monkey. Fight scenes almost made it worth it. Almost. Rent it if you must. Don't Buy it. Not even for $1.99 . In fact don't rent it. :)

Just how does the THIS channel find such cinematic crap? I'm wondering if the films in Universal Studios that got destroyed in the fire were any better, & if not, it could be a blessing. But back to "Iron Monkey II." Normally I see substandard kung fu or marital arts films on Spanish-language stations like Telefutura or Telemundo. Somehow I discovered "Iron Monkey 2" on THIS, & unfortunately had to hear the ridiculous English dubbing. The action scenes were decent in comparison to better or worse martial arts movies. Certainly the foley artist has quick ears & quick hands on the buttons. & not a single actor could be recognized, not even the white actors. But this lackluster film was meant to be stumbled upon while channel-surfing, not to be rented or downloaded and seen on a big screen or computer.

This is perhaps (The Shadow is still #1 I think) the worst movie I've ever seen. There are about 15 minutes of fight sequences that are respectable, however, I could not believe this movie came out in the 1990s. "Enter the Dragon's" cinematography was better and shot 20 years previous to it. The special effects were worse than the intentionally bad classic Big Trouble in Little China. I had no empathy for any of the characters because none of them had any development. Perhaps I'm missing something in translation, but it's an awful lot. Or maybe the production company thought the star power of Donnie Yen and Billy Chow was enough to carry this movie. Based on their relatively small roles, that would have to be a LOT of star power.

Simply amazing. I didn't think they could do better than the original. I am happy to report, they have! Action that reminds me of... Once Upon A Time In China part 1 and 2. I won't give away too much of the story but you won't be disappointed. If you have to see one period kung-fu movie this year, see this. DC AMAZING!

Because of the poor dubbing and its comparison to iron monkey, I think it gets bad reviews. I'm just speculating, but I believe this film was probably done before Donnie Yen was a star. They just released it with a title as Iron Monkey 2 for the video/dvd to bank in on Donnie Yen and Woo-Ping Yuen's Action choreography. I enjoyed the fights and tried my best to understand what was going on but not as bad as everybody here is saying. Or maybe I just watch a lot of movies.

*Some Minor Spoilers* I rented "Iron Monkey 2" with a fair bit of skepticism. I'd heard it was a poor follow-up to the amazing "Iron Monkey," and unfortunately, those rumours turned out to be correct. IM2 is a seriously flawed movie, especially with the terrible dubbing. Other than the intermittent presence of Donnie Yen, "Iron Monkey 2" doesn't even seem connected to the original. I'm sure the backstory is established somewhere, but the movie as a whole is so disjointed and unfocused that it's hard to tell what's going on. In fact, it's this lack of focus which is precisely the movie's worst flaw. There are way too many subplots going on. Wu Ma is searching for his long-lost father (the identity of whom I guessed within about 5 seconds), a pair of orphans are swindling the bad guys, and Donnie Yen is kind of wandering in and out of the movie, alternately going to church and raiding arms shipments. I have to wonder about Yen's commitment to the movie, given that his Iron Monkey only seems to sporadically appear when needed (in many other cases, Wu Ma takes on the burden of fighting evil). None of these plots tie together very well at all. At times, I found myself asking if I was still watching the same movie. The orphans' story, while charming in its own way, seriously distracted from the rest of the story. The villains' aims were never particularly well-defined (the guy wanted guns, that's about all I could tell), and as a result, the Iron Monkey himself didn't have a very well-defined enemy to fight against. In some ways I found myself questioning the relevance of the Iron Monkey, and wondering why this was even considered a sequel to the original. The fights are definitely quite good and have their moments, although again, I don't think they compare to the original "Iron Monkey." I'd rather watch the Donnie Yen/Yu Rongguang fight from the original than the tepid fight between Yen and Wu Ma in the second. On the other hand, I got a real thrill when Donnie pulled out the "cloth stick" -- the same weapon he famously wielded against Jet Li in "Once Upon a Time in China II." He certainly didn't disappoint -- when he was on screen, anyway. Overall, "Iron Monkey 2" is a disjointed mess of a movie, with a few bright fight scenes scattered throughout. Those fights are definitely interesting, but they lack the same heart of the original. Taken on its own terms, IM2 isn't awful; when compared to the original, it's a big disappointment. Overall, I'd give this movie a 4 out of 10.

Iron Monkey would not have been so bad if it had been subtitled instead of dubbed over, but it would still have been awful. The fight scenes are crappy and everything else is unintentionally funny. The direction is...well... bad. Many things about this movie are BAD. The cinematography, if you can call it that, is choppy, crappy, uneven and fake. Most parts when they are trying to make it look like something is falling into place, it looks like they shot it falling (or CGI'd it) then shot a seperate cut with it in place. Really REALLY crappy movie. This is one of the worst martial arts movies I have ever seen. It's not even funny, just painfully bad. I'll give it 2/10 just because some of the fight scenes were mediocre, not terrible.

I was zapping through, looking for something to watch in a post-lunch Sunday afternoon when I stopped at this TV show which usually airs martial arts films. I stood in rapt amazement when I saw that this week film would be "Iron Monkey II". I had rented the first film (from 1993, remastered by Tarantino in 2002, I think) and had really enjoyed it. So I thought: "Ok, Donnie Yen kicking asses throughout the film"... how wrong I was! The plot is somewhat hard to explain: a brother and a sister cheat a just-arrived-in-town guy to help them rob some weapons. Then they get in trouble with the "mafia-like-bad-guy" of the film. Meanwhile, the cheated guy is looking for his dad and bumps into Iron Monkey. The first film depicted the Iron Monkey as a sort of ninja, concealing his identity. Donnie Yen played a support role there. Here, he's the Monkey, but he wears no mask (except in one scene but you can't even get if it's him or someone else), and wanders around trying to save the day with his face revealed. Furthermore, the action, if any, is focused on the two brothers and the other guy, and the Monkey does not appear much. The rest is the usual fighting scenes Asian films have accustomed us to. It managed to keep me watching, but merely to see something spectacular happen (and I'm still waiting) A BIG problem here is that the movie does not fit much with the first one: the 1993 film was set in the 19th century. This one goes in the 20th, and the Monkey is probably the only link to the other. I'm inclined to believe this was a script (how rare it sounds here) for something else, and they turned it into this sequel. If so, they should not have stained the previous movie with such a mediocre result. Conclussion: if you like Donnie Yen, try and watch "Heroes among Heroes", his cameos in "Shanghai Knights", "Highlander:Endgame", "Blade II", or the original Monkey (All but Blade are recommended) rather than this. If you like martial arts, watch it without expectation and you might end up not THAT disappointed, like me. I give it a 3.

It is possible to enjoy this movie. The first and most important thing to do is to forget that it has anything to do with the movie Iron Monkey. In fact, looking at it I'm not entirely convinced that it was intended to. There is no reason to believe that Donnie Yen's character is supposed to be Wong Kei-Ying. Donnie Yen's character (supposedly the Iron Monkey) isn't even the central character in the movie. I suspect that this may be a case much like American releases entitled Rumble in Hong Kong or Return of the Dragon, trying to cash in on the fame of better, unrelated movies. That's speculation on my part, though. Still, there is some very good classic-style action in this movie, and if you can't see past the attempt to cash in on another, admittedly better movie, you're missing out. There are some very good action sequences in this movie, comparable to those in the masterpiece Once Upon a Time in China. Yes, the production value is kind of low, but if that upsets you that much you can't be much of a fan of Hong Kong cinema. There is a lot of talent in this movie and it is definitely worth watching. Sadly, the American DVD release is only available in pan and scan with an English dub. It's always terrible to have the sides of the frame hacked off an action movie, but at least the dub isn't that bad (as they go). If you're a fan of more "old-school" Hong Kong action I'd recommend this movie, especially if you can get a widescreen and subtitled version.