Iron Monkey (1993)
Iron Monkey is a 1993 Hong Kong martial arts film written and produced by Tsui Hark and directed by Yuen Woo-ping, starring Donnie Yen, Yu Rongguang, Jean Wang, Angie Tsang and Yuen Shun-yi. It is not related to the 1977 Hong Kong film of the same title. The film is a fictionalised account of an episode in the childhood of the Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hung and his father Wong Kei-ying, and their encounter with the “Iron Monkey”. In 1996, a separate film titled Iron Monkey 2 was released, but it is unrelated to the 1993 film.Plot.
The plot centers on a masked martial artist known as Iron Monkey. Iron Monkey is actually the alter ego of a traditional Chinese medicine physician called Yang Tianchun. During the day, Yang runs his clinic and provides free medical treatment for the poor, which he subsidises by charging his rich patients. At night, he dresses in black and travels around town to rob the rich and help the poor. Once, he breaks into the governor’s residence and makes off with a hoard of gold. The guards and four Shaolin monks are unable to stop him. The governor orders the chief constable, Fox, to hunt down Iron Monkey and to arrest anyone who is linked to him in any way. Fox appears to be a bungler who is not aware that Iron Monkey is actually the physician treating his injured men who fought with Iron Monkey the previous night. In the meantime, Wong Kei-ying, also a physician and martial artist from Foshan, arrives in town with his young son, Wong Fei-hung. Wong Kei-ying fights with street thugs who attempt to rob him.
Some soldiers who have been observing the fight nearby suspect that Wong is Iron Monkey, and they arrest him and his son. During the trial, the governor orders Wong Fei-hung to be branded for defiance, but Iron Monkey shows up and disrupts the proceedings. Wong Kei-ying is eager to prove his innocence, and he fights with Iron Monkey. Neither of them is able to defeat his opponent, and Iron Monkey escapes. The governor is impressed by Wong Kei-ying’s skill, and he holds Wong Fei-hung hostage to force Wong Kei-ying to help him capture Iron Monkey within seven days.
The locals despise Wong Kei-ying for assisting the governor in capturing their hero, so they refuse to sell him food or provide him with shelter. Wong eventually arrives at Yang’s clinic and is taken in by Yang and Miss Orchid, while he is still unaware of Yang’s true identity. With help from Fox, Yang manages to bring Wong Fei-hung, who has fallen sick, out of prison and keeps him in his clinic. Wong Fei-hung learns new martial arts from Yang and Miss Orchid during his stay with them.