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Iron Fisted Monk
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Arrow Films Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (5th October 2023). |
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The Film
 Ever since he was beaten by a Manchu gang who murdered his master while trying to extort protection money, "Husker" (The Victim's Sammo Hung) – so named for his profession as a rice pounder – has been training at a Shaolin temple. When he is not playing pranks on one of the more devout brothers (Warriors Two's Casanova Wong), Husker dreams of revenge however much he has been taught that his training is to be used for more noble ends. He finally decides to leave the temple and return to his village to serve under Brother Tak (Double Impact's Chan Sing) who sent him to the temple after his attack; however, no one leaves the temple without enduring four tests and he is pursued by his mentor (The Millionaire's Express' James Tien) who puts him through the four tests under the guise of punishment. Upon returning to the village, Husker discovers some Manchu gang members bullying children who had the temerity to stand up to them. He humiliates one of the members while the others run away, and it is in this vulnerable position that dye factory worker Liang (Return of the Lucky Stars's Lo Hoi-Pang) stabs the man to death. Husker learns that the Liang's sister (Chan Wai-Ying) was raped by a Manhcu gang leader and committed suicide in disgrace, but Liang did not know which one committed the crime. Liang runs off and the other gang members tell their leader (Police Story's Fung Hak-On), the actual rapist, that the killer must be Husker. Brother Tak takes on Liang as his new apprentice and appoints Husker to help him train the workers of the dye factory who are being harassed by the Manchu. Husker emulates his master in focusing training on defense and trying to steer Liang away from thoughts of vengeance, even humiliating himself by enduring bullying by the Manchu for the murder he did not commit. When the Manchu leader's more powerful older brother (King Boxer's Chao Hsiung) arrives from the capital, they conspire to take over the dye factory, by trickery or by wholesale slaughter if necessary. The directorial debut of actor/action director Sammo Hung – written by his action director mentor Wong Fung (Shaolin Plot) who cameos as the Shaolin temple's abbot – The Iron-Fisted Monk introduces Hung as director and actor in terms of action sequences and a tone that combines comedy and melodrama in a not always congruent fashion. Hung provides comic relief and impressive athleticism for his trademark build while Chan garners laughs from his stone-faced reaction to the hijinks, and Lo brings some needed sobriety to the dramatics made (dare I say it) problematic by the film's approach to one of the two rape scenes. While the scene functions to demonstrate the lawlessness of the Manchus and give Liang character motivation, the levity around the more graphic than expected scene with Liang's mother not only seemingly insulted that she was not too violated but also lying later in relaying the events that she too was nearly a victim leaves more of a bad taste than the excesses of some of the Shaw Brothers exploitation films of the period. The action staging is ambitious and accomplished, particularly the climactic bout in which Husker and Tak not only face off against the two Manchu leaders but actually trade opponents several times in one uninterrupted take. The supporting cast includes Jackie Chan regulars Mars (Project "A") and Eric Tsang (Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars). 
Video
The Iron-Fisted Monk was not one of the films whose English-friendly Hong Kong DVD was ported over stateside by Tai Seng – although that import did find its way into some shops with an Asian imports section – instead making its official stateside DVD bow via Fox's Fortune Star deal with an anamorphic transfer that was uncut even if the original Cantonese mono option had sync issues. The U.K. special edition from Hong Kong Legends was cut by 1 minute and 16 seconds for sexual violence (the aforementioned rape scene), and the Australian and Dutch editions utilized the same cut master. Eureka's 2019 Blu-ray – part of their three film Three Films with Sammo Hung with The Magnificent Butcher and Eastern Condors – appeared to have passed the BBFC without cuts; however, Fortune Star had already self-censored the HD master, not trimming any footage but zooming in some shots of the rape scene to not quite above the waist and digitally-blurring a shot of female frontal nudity lasting a few frames at the start of a zoom shot (the Scandinavian Blu-ray release also used this master).  Arrow's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 release comes from the same master; however, Fortune Star have either retransferred the footage or had it available and inadvertently supplied the other companies with the censored version. The rape scene was disturbing enough in the censored version so the uncensored version is not significantly more impactful but it is nice that Arrow went to the effort since this was never a matter of unavailable materials as with some of the Shaw restorations. The 2K restoration looks a big softer and grainier during the opening credits, which is to be expected with credits opticals, but improves afterwards. It has the cooler look of the "modern" color grading that has been criticized of other Golden Harvest HD remasters of late but is not so distracting given the original color schemes of the rustic location photography and muted wardrobe.
Audio
The Eureka edition included the Cantonese track in mono as well as the classic English dub in mono and the later DVD dub in stereo. In addition to these options – all in lossless DTS-HD Master Audio – Arrow also add a Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 remix also prepared during the DVD era as well as a mono Mandarin dub and English subtitles for the Cantonese tracks and SDH subtitles for the English tracks. The Cantonese tracks are the way to go, but the few cockney accents on the original English dub are amusing, while the newer dub has more dynamic sound effects but flat performances. 
Extras
Ported over from the Eureka edition is the audio commentary by Asian film expert Frank Djeng who discusses Hung's movement from action director/actor to director and parallel the tests Tien as mentor administers to Husker to Hung's stylistic and technical ambitions on his debut with the help of mentor Huang, and the origins of the story in the fable "The Ten Tigers of Canton" (also noting the different origin story for the character who originally was taken in by the Shaolin temple because he ate so much that no one else would have him) and some background on the Manchu period. He also highlights the more mobile photography and the use of baby powder coating the clothes of the performers to make impacts of blows look more powerful. He also notes Hung's discovery of Wong in Korea where the location scenes were shot, the question as to whether this film or Jackie Chan's Snake in th Eagle's Shadow was the first martial arts comedy,the typecasting of Hung and Chan as villains, and the treatment of women in many Hung films in contrast to some of his other female leads including Angela Mao (Enter the Dragon), Cynthia Kahn (In the Line of Duty 4), and Cynthia Rothrock (Honor and Glory).  The pair of archival Hung interviews included on this disc is made redundant by the commentary. In the first (9:37), Hung discusses the move to directing, the influence of Huang, and his choice of a historical fighter character, while the second (6:00) has him recalling his Peking Opera training. New to this release is an archival interview with actor Casanova Wong (17:05) in which he discusses his Taekwondo training, being spotted training by a Golden Harvest executive and director Wong Fung who cast him in The Shaolin Plot where met Hung who trained him in choreographing martial arts for the camera. He speaks warmly about Hung's mentorship and working with him on Bruce Lee's final film Game of Death where he observed Lee and realized the importance of being able to act as well as fight. The film's theatrical trailer (4:18) is also included along with an image gallery (39 images).
Packaging
Not supplied for review were the reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gary Mills or the first pressing exclusives of a double-sided sided foldout poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gary Mills and an illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing by Brandon Bentley. 
Overall
The melding of comedy and melodrama is not always congruent in Sammo Hung's directorial debut Iron-Fisted Monk but it is an entertaining stepping stone in the direction of his more accomplished films to come.
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