"Iron Monkey" Is A Seamless Blend Of Kung Fu Action, Political Intrigue And Humor

"Iron Monkey," from 1993, like several Asian films, is not actually about the perceived main character. This movie serves as an origin story of Wong Fei-hung, a real 19th century martial arts master, acupuncturist and revolutionary. Since his death in 1924 he has become a folk hero and has begun to slip into semi-mythical status as some of the hundreds of film depictions of his life are less than historically accurate. In "Iron Monkey" Wong Fei-hung is a kid, traveling around with his stern martial artist father Wong Kei-ying. The events of this movie influence Fei-hung to become a champion of the people.

The Wongs (The father played by Donnie Yen and the boy played by Angie Tsang - yes, a little girl played a little boy) arrive in a town with an inequity problem. There are many in poverty while the regional governor Cheng (James Wong) hoards all the gold and the best food for himself. But somebody is doing something about it, a Robin Hood-like character in the form of the masked and black-clad Iron Monkey. Yang Tianchun (Yu Rongguang) is the Iron Monkey. He is a respected doctor who often gives free medical service to the poor and charges the rich to pay for it. This is a guy Occupy Wall Street would love. At night he uses his stealthy kung fu skills to take gold from the rich to give to the poor. When he robs the governor the greedy man orders bumbling Chief Fox (Yuen Shun-Yi), his head of security, to apprehend the Iron Monkey. Anybody who is good at martial arts and/or has any association with monkeys is considered a suspect. This leads to some funny arrests like a man who supposedly "sneezes like a monkey."

Wong Kei-ying and Wong Fei-hung are arrested. Kei-ying agrees to help capture the Iron Monkey if the governor will let his son go. The governor says he will only after the Iron Monkey is defeated. Kei-ying finds that most of the locals hate him for cooperating with the despised governor and won't sell him any food. In comes Doctor Yang to the rescue and the plot device of him helping the man who's trying to bring him in and shut him down.

Eventually Wong Kei-ying learns the truth about Yang and why he spends his nights as the Iron Monkey and the two agree to join forces to take down the governor. But a new threat arises in the corrupt Shaolin monk Hin-hung (Yen Shi-kwan), who matches Governor Cheng's spineless greed with an evil disregard for life. Hin-hung is an imperial official who takes over the Governorship and vows to take down the Iron Monkey himself. Hin-hung and his band of frankly ugly, sneering monks and one sword-wielding disfigured nun provide much more of the challenge than the previous governor's men. Chief Fox turns out to not be such a bad guy after all, certainly not the Sheriff of Nottingham-type of character he was in the beginning and secretly and not-so-secretly helps the Iron Monkey. From this point, the fighting action from everybody, including young Fei-hung, builds up to a final confrontation for Wong Kei-ying and Doctor Yang against the evil monk.

The fight scenes are excellent in this movie. But you can expect that from director Yuen Woo-ping, well known in both Asia and the U.S. for his action choreography. The fights are interesting to watch and expertly use the environment of the sets and props, like wooden beams, filled burlap sacks, tile roofs, tables, chairs, fire, clothing etc., as weapons and staging areas. Each fighter also clearly has their own style which also reflects their individual personalities well. This drives home the fact that martial arts is just as much mental as physical.

The humor is weaved seamlessly into the action and the politically-charged plot. Nothing feels too forced. Governor Cheng is a great weaselly, sniveling character, forever complaining about and chasing after his multiple wives. There's a great scene where Yang and his assistant Miss Orchid (Jean Wang) dress up as imperial officials to steal from the Governor. Both are wearing fake-looking beards and talking in funny accents. In one scene, Yang tells a rich patient that he is over-sexed and needs to lay off the shark-fin soup.

The one flaw in "Iron Monkey" is that Miss Orchid could have been developed better. She has some good fight scenes but is still fairly one-dimensional. It seem like her addiction was mostly to provide additional evidence that Doctor Yang is a kind and ethical man, as there is a flashback scene, filmed in an oddly thick blue hue, of him rescuing Orchid from either being raped or killed.

"Iron Monkey" is a great introduction to a Chinese folk hero portrayed as an adult by such stars as Jackie Chan and Jet Li. This is also a very well-rounded movie that appeals to all types of audiences with it's pleasing mix of fluid kung fu action, political intrigue and comedy. This type of film is a good gateway drug and jumping off point to both the longer, denser and more complex epic, historical period wuxia movies and to the leaner-plotted, fighting-focused kung fu films.

"13 Assassins" As Much Treatise On Samurai Culture As It Is Action Film

Director Takashi Miike is most known for his ultra-violent disturbing thrillers and horror films. 2010's "13 Assassins" is relatively tame by his standards but certainly has plenty of violence and frequent unsettling scenes. This movie manages to mix dark and gritty amidst the simple yet serene beauty of feudal Japan architecture and clothing as well as fluid action choreography.

This is a remake of a 1963 film of the same name and is also clearly an homage to classics like Akira Kurosawa's "The Seven Samurai." However, "13 Assassins" doesn't feel like a parody at all. In fact, if more films of this caliber get made, the samurai genre will not have to be lauded only for past successes.

"13 Assassins" takes place in the 1840s. Historically, this was a period of peace but stagnation for the samurai and the Shogun ruling system in Japan that eventually saw to it's collapse. Lord Naritsuga (Goro Inagaki) is the Shogun's half-brother and has gained a lot of power. However, he is sadistic, killing, raping and torturing people at will for little or no reason. His violence against women is particularly heinous, as one scene involving a quadruple amputee shows. Early on it's made clear that Naritsuga has no redeeming value whatsoever. He is utterly evil and sociopathic. Basically, this is a guy Dexter needs to visit.

Sir Doi (Mikijiro Hira), a high-ranking adviser to the Shogun, sees that Naritsuga's rise in power is bad news. Fearing that the man's unhinged violence will infect the Shogun system and thus the whole of Japan, he secretly enlists samurai Shinzaemon (Koji Yakusho) to take Naritsuga out. Shinzaemon enlists 11 fellow samurai, including his party animal nephew and his hard-training disciple. Each have special skills and unique personalities, making this a well-rounded group to watch.

Naritsuga and his ontourage are traveling so the newly formed band of assassins follow in hopes of cutting him off and cutting him down in a small rural village. Along the way they meet their 13th assassin, a crude, free-spirited hunter named Koyata (Yusuke Iseya). He helps to provide some comic relief and also serves as a contrast to the strict lives the samurai lead.

The final battle is spectacularly constructed. It takes up around an hour of the film's time but doesn't drag in the slightest because of its uniqueness. The assassins have reached the town they set out to before Naritsuga's party arrives. They pay the entire town to leave but not before helping to construct elaborate traps everywhere that turn it into a deadly labyrinthine maze. At first, the assassins, with their element of surprise, have the upper hand and pick off multitudes of Naritsuga's nameless samurai. But the sheer numbers of them, 200 in total, eventually begin the overwhelm the group.

The final final battle of course involves a direct sword fight between Shinzaemon and Naritsuga but not before his battle with Naritsuga's right hand man Hanbei (Masachika Ichimura), an old sparring partner of Shinzaemon's. These two show the conflicting viewpoints within the samurai structure with Hanbei espousing duty above all and Shinzaemon espousing justice above all. Also, it turns out Naritsuga loves dishing out pain but he's not very good at taking it.

"13 Assassins" makes use of many shades of grey for the costumes and sets. It is also often raining. These two elements do a great job with reflecting the somber mood surrounding the dilution of the samurai ideal and the corruption of the feudal system. Naritsuga always wears pure white, which also helps to contrast his lofty position with his lowdown acts.

While this movie is a great action film and character drama at the same time, some elements might make it confusing for Western audiences. For example, much of the first half of the film concerns the acts, practices and duties of Bushido, the code of the samurai, and how these help and hinder individual samurai on a personal, cultural and political basis. These scenes, despite the good acting, could be tedious to any viewer unfamiliar with samurai history. Though even if these elements are understood, the flow of "13 Assassins" is a bit herky-jerky at times. But you can't accuse this movie of not being thorough.

Samurai movies, and this one in particular, are violent. There's no point denying that. But the bloodbath isn't violence for the sake of it. It is a byproduct of the wonderfully intricate plot, stoic but intense acting and breathtaking sets and scenery. "13 Assassins" refuses to sacrifice substance for style or visa-versa and instead amps up both as far as they can go.