Iron Monkey Critique

The movie "Iron Monkey," a Kung-Fu film choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping ("The Matrix"), is an amazing work of film fiction taking place in feudal China. As with most films, the point of view for this movie is third person limited. This is brought out more by the text at the opening of the film, providing support for the events leading up to the beginning of the story. Also, the movie doesn't "get into the head" of any of the characters.

Within the first five minutes of the film, one can identify this movie as a superhero type story; a singular (or dual) hero with incredible ability fights crime or corruption. The hero of this movie is the Iron Monkey, a masked warrior with amazing abilities in the art of Kung-Fu circa 1858. The Iron Monkey is a thief hero, stealing gold from corrupt government officials and small time crime lords in the town of Chekiang. Unlike most masked hero movies, however, the identity of the hero is given right away. He is Dr. Yang, a kind-hearted and generous physcician, usually giving

This story focuses on the travels of Wong Kei-Ying and his son, who are visiting Chekiang for supplies. Wong Kei-Ying is a famous martial artist and physician, known also for being a legendary martial arts instructor in real life. The son looks to the father for protection, but the Wong refuses to baby him, trying to get the son to act more like an adult. Both are amazing fighters who train for hours a day. Wong Kei-Ying is the inventor of a technique known as the Shadow Kick.

As they arrive there, however, the governor has ordered Chief Fox, head of the police force, to arrest anyone who could be the Iron Monkey. While fending off some thieves, officers witnessed Wong Kei-Ying's incredible fighting prowess, and arrested him for being the Iron Monkey. To prove his innocence, Wong Kei-Ying offers to fight and capture the Iron Monkey in return for his safe return home. For collateral, his son is placed in prison.

The town of Chekiang was a city where flood refugees went to get assistance from Shaolin Monks and the government. However, the officials turned out to be corrupt, and merchants took advantage of the peasants and beggars. The town is darker in color, showing the corruption blanketing the town. A lot of the action takes place at night as well. The Iron Monkey only causes trouble in the movie during the night, when the dark corruption of the city