Iron Monkey II

People talk today as if Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi were the first women to kick ass in the Hong Kong martial arts movies. In fact, "feminism" has been a staple of the genre since the 1950's.

Iron Monkey Strikes Back has Chen Kwan Tai, a 70's Shaw Brothers superstar, forming an uneasy alliance with the sweet-but-deadly Judy Lee. The plot allows the two to face off against each other as enemies (with the two matching each other blow-for-blow in an awesome fight sequence), then later combine forces against the evil conspirators and their henchmen.

While the kung-fu is not as fast-and-furious as the modern product, it is very engaging, but what really sets this apart is the great bi-play between the two stars, as they constantly try to out-do each other, pull pranks, then grow to a grudging respect for each other, before finally the inevitable happens.

Many times the sequel film to the original is a weak "wannabe" of the first and this film keeps that theory correct. Cool Head is a detective that is committed to his job. The first 30 minutes involves a killing that Head tries to solve. The apparent killer is captured by Head but then the detective has doubts. Then starts the confusion in this film. There are 3 women that start to follow Head around the country. Killers also track Head and try to kill him. The women help Head. Fight scenes show nothing extraordinary. The final fight is somewhat interesting but the ending is confusing as to what happens to the detective. If you have nothing else and you feel like watching a confusing martial arts film then watch this.

This film is a pseudo sequel to the original Iron Monkey (1977) which is in its own right a kung fu classic. This film isn't nearly as captivating or cohesive as the original & it's filled with more plot holes & cliches than you could possibly imagine. If you're a fan of old school kung fu flicks & you're willing to turn your brain off for an hour and 40 minutes then this should be somewhat enjoyable for you. On a positive note, there are countless fight scenes, interesting sets, props & cliche characters galore. Although this film doesn't live up to the original or to its own potential, it can still be somewhat enjoyable for fans of the genre.

A very nice movie to watch when you know it's a B-film. The story is fairly simple but OK. The kung-fu scenes are very nice to watch, there is humor and enouhg speed and no (mostly boring and irrelevant love-scenes). Although the acrobatic at the end is hilarious it's funny and at the end teh good guys win.

ej's capsule review for kung-fu films of the chop-socky old-school - 1. basic plot type - historical; weapons used; political intrigue; determined policeman with mystery to solve; budding romance; revenge 2. plot construction - viewer will solve mystery long before the inspector, but otherwise the plot is pretty strong 3. dramatic - in parts 4. funny - in parts 5. dialog - not bad 6. cast performance - chen kuan tai and chia ling in top form 7. crew performance - decent 8. amount of fighting - lots 9. quality of fighting - good 10. special any cast or crew notes - despite u.s. video title, not related to any other 'iron monkey' film; a 'moon-lighting' film for chen kuan tai, as he was still under contract with shaw bros. at the time, and this doesn't look shaw bros. to me 11. big positive - most films of this era in 'fu films ended with the last blow of the last fight; this one actually an amusing post-script added on 12. big negative - chen kuan tai's character is too smart to have missed the solution of the crime for as long as he does bottom-line - who should see this movie - entertaining martial-arts film for any interested in the genre