Buy this DVD at Amazon.ca Buy this on VHS at Amazon.ca

---

Iron Monkey is a martial arts movie about a masked man calling himself the Iron Monkey who steals from the corrupt government and gives to the poor.  Meanwhile rogue Shaolin monks are on the search.  To further tighten the danger for the intrepid hero a high official is coming to raise hell with the inept governor unless he captures the Iron Monkey.  A doctor who is also a renowned martial artists visiting the city is caught up in the effort to capture the Iron Monkey when he and his son are arrested for possibly being the masked thief.  The doctor must catch the Iron Monkey or his son will remain in jail indefinitely.

This is a top-notch period martial arts movie.  The sets, the props, and the period clothing are excellent.  The hand to hand combat is impressive and the weapon play is as well.  The aerial stunts are top of the line (and to put in a dig, a million times better than Crouching Tiger) and the pyrotechnics were brilliant.  To top it all there is some good acting (ignoring the poor quality of the voice dub but that's not the filmmaker's fault) and the direction is good.  The story is fast moving and filled with more than just fighting.  The movie is about friendship, doing what is right, growing as a person, and having real honour and integrity.  All of this is while maintaining the amazing fight scenes and giving fully that feeling of being in China at that time.

( Thank you for reading my review.
Bob Male)

All ideas, opinions, and information are from the reviewer and are not representative of any company or group involved with the creators and/or staff of the materials being reviewed.