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Iron Monkey aka Siu nin Wong Fei Hung ji: Tit Ma Lau [Blu-ray]

 

(Woo-Ping Yuen, 1993)

 

 

Review by Leonard Norwitz

 

Production:

Theatrical: Media Asia, Golden Harvest, LS Pictures

Video: Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Eureka (UK)

 

Disc:

Region: FREE / Region 'B' (as verified by the Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player)

Runtime: 1:25:57.485 / 1:30:20.123

Disc Size: 22,597,436,487 bytes / 45,017,766,126 bytes

Feature Size: 20,064,043,008 bytes / 31,740,589,632 bytes

Average Bitrate: 24.22 Mbps / 31.53 Mbps

Chapters: 18 / 12

Case: Locking Blu-ray case / Transparent w/slipcase (see below)

Release date: September 15th, 2009 / June 18th, 2018

 

Video (both):

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Bitrate:

 

1) MiraMax - Region FREE  - Blu-ray TOP

2) Eureka (UK) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

Audio:

DTS-HD Master Audio English 4145 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 4145 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio Chinese 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 320 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 320 kbps / Dolby Surround

 

DTS-HD Master Audio Chinese 3967 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3967 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit)
LPCM Audio Chinese 768 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 16-bit
LPCM Audio Chinese 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
DTS-HD Master Audio English 3661 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3661 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit)

LPCM Audio English 768 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 16-bit

 

Subtitles:

English (SDH), English, Spanish, none

 

English, English (SDH), none

 

Extras

• Interview with Quentin Tarantino – in SD (9:19)
• Interview with Donnie Yen – SD (6:21)

 

• Interview with Donnie Yen (19:36)
 • Interview with producer Tsui Hark (24:36)
 • Interview with Yu Rong-kwong (26:24)
 • Interview with stuntwoman and actress Li Fai (25:21)
 • Interview with actress Angie Tsang (19:59)
 • Iron Fist (16:02) A behind-the-scenes look at the action choreography of Iron Monkey
 • Shadow Boxing (8:11) a featurette on Hong Kong action choreography featuring Alex Yip
Footage of Li Fai and Angie Tsang competing at the 2003 Wu Shu Championships (9:11)
 • Original theatrical trailer (4:43)
 • A collector's booklet featuring a new essay on the film (First print run only)

 

1) MiraMax - Region FREE  - Blu-ray TOP

2) Eureka (UK) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

Description:

A breathtaking action adventure from perhaps the greatest action choreographer of all time, Yuen Woo-ping's Iron Monkey combines mind-blowing fight choreography, with a classic story of courage, honour and sacrifice.

Wong Kei-ying ( Donnie Yen; Ip Man, Rogue One), a physician and martial artist, is mistaken for a masked vigilante known as the Iron Monkey ( Yu Rong-kwong); a Robin Hood style hero who has been robbing the wealthy local officials in order to provide medical treatment for the poor. The two men must team up to defeat a corrupt political regime; and protect the lives of the people whose cause they champion.

Presented from a brand new, stunning 2K restoration, Eureka Classics is proud to present this iconic martial arts classic making its UK debut on Blu-ray.

 

 

 

Iron Monkey suffers also in that it is presented here only in the cut Miramax provided for its North American distribution. The balance between comedy and violence is made to be more agreeable to Western audiences – the ones who can't or won't read subtitles, we must presume. (On the other hand, I'm no fan of undercranking, which the original version suffers from during some of the fight scenes.) And a new music score was also composed. OK, this isn't a case like the seriously truncated Seven Samurai with which many Americans first became acquainted, but to not have both versions is a missed opportunity as well as, I want to believe, a miscalculation. It would be nice if this collection of Blu-rays, especially the Chinese movies, is not purchased in huge numbers but, instead, rented; and that the distributor will learn the right message from this. They certainly won't pay much attention to those reviewers, many I imagine, who feel much as I do.

The Movie :
Westerners may know him as Robin Hood or Zorro, but Chinese know him as Wong Fei Hung of countless stories, legends and movies. The best known of these to us on this side of the planet are the Once upon a Time in China trilogy of movies with a young Jet Li. Wong Fei Hung is an historical figure from the early twentieth century, not to be confused with the fictional Fong Sai Yuk, also with Jet Li. Here, the hero is Donnie Yen. No, wait a moment, the Fei Hung in this story is played by 13-year old Tsang Sze-Man (aka: Angie Tsang, a girl no less, of whom you'd a thought would have had quite career in martial arts films, but seems not, choosing instead to compete in world class wushu competition.) Donnie Yen plays Fei Hung's father, Kei Ying, but he's not Iron Monkey either, as you might expect, though, in the tradition of the Dread Pirate Roberts, Kei Ying kind of inherits the mantle after a considerable amount of plot wringing. From Iron Monkey (Yu Rongguang) Kei Ying learns new martial arts skills and, together, they confront the Shaolin traitor, Hin-Hung (Yam Sai Kwoon) in a brilliantly staged fight on top of burning poles.

 

Image:  NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

 

So what we have is the US Blu-ray - the Weinstein's' 'cut' version (about 4.5 minutes shorter) - and what looks like a totally different source compared to Eureka's complete 90-minute version on Blu-ray ('from a brand new 2K restoration'), with multiple audio options and stacked with extras. The UK image is darker in some sequences and brighter in others - mostly showing more detail, but also a thicker, more textured, appearance - significantly more information in the 1.85:1 frame, colors appear richer and more true. There may be some blue-green bias but that wouldn't be out of the ordinary for Asian Wushu films. Anyway, on a dual-layered disc with, almost, a 50% higher bitrate the Eureka looks great on my system. The MiraMax can looks glossy and plastic at times by comparison.

 

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

Subtitle Sample - Eureka (UK) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

 

 

1) MiraMax - Region FREE  - Blu-ray TOP

2) Eureka (UK) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) MiraMax - Region FREE  - Blu-ray TOP

2) Eureka (UK) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) MiraMax - Region FREE  - Blu-ray TOP

2) Eureka (UK) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) MiraMax - Region FREE  - Blu-ray TOP

2) Eureka (UK) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) MiraMax - Region FREE  - Blu-ray TOP

2) Eureka (UK) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) MiraMax - Region FREE  - Blu-ray TOP

2) Eureka (UK) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) MiraMax - Region FREE  - Blu-ray TOP

2) Eureka (UK) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) MiraMax - Region FREE  - Blu-ray TOP

2) Eureka (UK) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) MiraMax - Region FREE  - Blu-ray TOP

2) Eureka (UK) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) MiraMax - Region FREE  - Blu-ray TOP

2) Eureka (UK) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) MiraMax - Region FREE  - Blu-ray TOP

2) Eureka (UK) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) MiraMax - Region FREE  - Blu-ray TOP

2) Eureka (UK) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

1) MiraMax - Region FREE  - Blu-ray TOP

2) Eureka (UK) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

Audio & Music :

As mentioned, Miramax opted to give its own English dub the front and center seat with a lossless audio mix – not that this gets it very far. The mix is good at whacking, but short on subtlety. The Chinese Dolby Digital 5.1 is to be preferred on religious grounds, but isn't quite as transparent as the DTS-HD. Neither one is all that concerned with precise directional cues for the surrounds. Those that are so kind of stick out of the context.

 

Eureka give the options of an original Cantonese mono audio track, a Cantonese 5.1, a Mandarin Stereo and two English DUBs - mono and 5.1 surround. The surround tracks are in DTS-HD master and the other three are in linear PCM. Of course they are sound different - exporting the myriad of effects with various alacrity - but the original is welcome and the surrounds have some sneaky and obtuse separations. I truly appreciate the options and fooled with each before setting in on the Cantonese mono. Eureka add optional English and English (SDH) subtitles on their Region 'B'-locked Blu-ray.

 

 


Extras :
Quentin Tarantino talks about the difference in temperament between American and Chinese audiences and makes some insightful points about movie-watching expectations in general. He also touches on the differences in various kung fu fighting styles as choreographed in the movies. Ironically, it was Tarantino's backing that made this movie in the Miramax cut that helped Iron Monkey to become the success it was in the U.S. Donnie Yen talks about how he got into both martial arts and the movies (he was born in Canton, and lived in the U.S. for 7 years as a teenager), as well as his contribution to the fighting style in Iron Monkey. Both Tarantino and Donnie Yen give plenty of nod to the film's director, Yuen Woo Ping, who has since become a household word in the staging of martial effects special effects, as seen in Once Upon a Time in China, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Matrix, and Kill Bill. Compared to the extra features on the R2 Hong Kong Legends Platinum Edition DVD, these are slim pickins indeed.

 

Eureka don't scrimp on the extras with, approaching 3-hours, of interview with Donnie Yen, producer Tsui Hark, Yu Rong-kwong, stuntwoman and actress Li Fai, actress Angie Tsang plus a behind-the-scenes look at the action choreography of Iron Monkey and a 'Shadow Boxing' featurette on Hong Kong action choreography featuring Alex Yip, some footage of Li Fai and Angie Tsang competing at the 2003 Wu Shu Championships and an original theatrical trailer, plus a collector's booklet featuring a new essay on the film (First print run only).

 

MiraMax - Region FREE  - Blu-ray

 

 

Eureka (UK) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

 

 

Recommendation :

I had hopes that these Weinstein/Dimension/Miramax/Disney imports would allow for original or international versions of the film on Blu-ray. Alas, not. They have chosen only their own cuts – for whatever reason. If you have the R2 Hong Kong Legends 2-disc Platinum Edition DVD of Iron Monkey, you really don't want to give it away. It has hours of relevant special features, including an audio commentary with Donnie Yen and HK Cinema expert, Bey Logan. And it makes use of the more coherent international cut of the film. It even has both the original Cantonese dialogue and English subtitles. That transfer, freshly re-mastered at the time, is plenty good enough in terms of both image and audio to suffice until a proper Blu-ray comes along - hopefully soon.

 

And a proper Blu-ray is here! No contest really. The 'cut' version isn't acceptable and the Eureka wins on most fronts and adds the, better transfer, more audio options (including original) and extensive interview supplements. Do yourself a favor and watch this, over-the-top, Wushu homage - fabulous action and fun that will make you crave more of the genre.

Leonard Norwitz
September 14th, 2009

Gary Tooze

July 2018


 

About the Reviewer: I first noticed that some movies were actually "films" back around 1960 when I saw Seven Samurai (in the then popular truncated version), La Strada and The Third Man for the first time. American classics were a later and happy discovery.

My earliest teacher in Aesthetics was Alexander Sesonske, who encouraged the comparison of unlike objects. He opened my mind to the study of art in a broader sense, rather than of technique or the gratification of instantaneous events. My take on video, or audio for that matter – about which I feel more competent – is not particularly technical. Rather it is aesthetic, perceptual, psychological and strongly influenced by temporal considerations in much the same way as music. I hope you will find my musings entertaining and informative, fun, interactive and very much a work in progress.


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