Ok, the specs are out.. the miramax re-release of Iron Monkey is not dubbed but will have original language but new musical background..

the movie is cut -but by yuen woo ping himself, who seems pleased that he could make it "a little tighter." sounds like minor trimmings to me..

check out http://www.iron-monkey.com

so the DVD should be pretty interesting... sounds like they did a complete remaster of this film..

if the disc has both the original and modern soundtrack and some supplements, it might make the HK version obsolete...

if the disc has both the original and modern soundtrack and some supplements, it might make the HK version obsolete...

Why's that so funny?

It won't make my HKL version obsolete!

as someone who is region-2 handicapped (i.e. I have a region 1 player), I can't enjoy HKL discs.

HOWEVER, there still exists a chance that the Miramax DVD may contain things not on the HKL disc including new interviews with Yoo Wuen Ping and, of course, the alternate soundtrack.

Not experiencing the HKL version, I really can't say if it will be worth it to upgrade. In fact I am actually quite happy with my reg 0 version.. but I think THAT version may become passe depending on the disc features of the miramax release..

if anything, this bodes well for HK films in the US in general.
1) they are starting to release these with subtitles. (in fact they redid these for the re-release)
2) they are now talking about releasing other popular HK films in the US...like Shaolin Soccer on the widescreen.

now if Miramax could only redo the OUATIC series right...

I'll agree that Miramax is getting better. Having subtitles on Iron Monkey is a big step for them.

Also, the OUATIC series is owned by Columbia/Tristar in the US but once again the HKL versions are superior.

Shaolin Soccer's DVD is widescreen. It's anamorphically enhanced. If Miramax could improve on the already v. good (for Hong Kong) disc, it's the extended version should have seamless branching for the extended scenes. Seems to annoy alot of people.

Steve - you do know that the HKL release of Iron Monkey is actually Region FREE so if you can handle PAL then there is NO reason why you haven't got this

It just so happens I have a few for sale on ebay

Peter

Chance are that if he doesn't have a region-free player, he doesn't have PAL->NTSC conversion either. And welcome to the forum, but soliciting is frowned upon by the management.

Okay, I got to see it today. As we had learned, it was with original cantonese dialogue, but a new musical score. The new score was okay, better than most Miramax re-scores, but not nearly as fitting or as memorable as the original score.

They added a short intro before the film with some drawings and text over them to sort of set the scene and describe the situation. It then cuts to the real beginning of the film. They also added some text after the film to say what happened to the characters later - as with any movie that does this, it comes off cheesy and tacked on.

There were five short cuts. They probably total, at most, a couple minutes. They are:

*After Wong Kei Ying eats with Dr. Yang and Miss Orchid and takes his leave to try find Iron Monkey, they cut the part where Miss Orchid gives him some buns to take with him.

*When Wong Kei Ying and Cheif Fox are eating and talking on the roof, they cut the part where the pan is blown off and someone shouts "Who blocked the chimney?"

*When Wong Fei Hung is going to sell the pills after leaving Dr. Yang's clinic, they cut his little kung fu demonstration before he starts selling the pill.

*After Dr. Yang and Wong Fei Hung leave, after being warned by Chief Fox that they are being sought after: The part with the villagers and the rice was cut and it goes straight to them there when Miss Orchid comes to tell them about Fei Hung.

*This wasn't an actual cut from the film, but they cut out a bit of dialogue. After the final battle when Dr. Yang and Miss Orchid see each other, and Kei Ying and Fei Hung see each other - they cut out the dialogue of Chief Fox saying "Why no one cares about me?"

As far as the subtitles go, most are fairly true to the original. But, there are a few significant moments where they diverge greatly from the HK DVD subtitles. In this one, they keep bringing up Dr. Yang's dad being killed. In particular, they did this in place of Dr. Yang saying that Fei Hung is his second student, Miss Orchid was the first (after he teaches him some moves with the rod). Another major one was the discussion between the governor and Dr. Yang as the fake official when he gives him advice. He no longer does the 4 righteous and 4 witty rules. He gives some generic advice like "Don't take politics too seriously" or something like that. I actually think a few second were pulled here, too. There are a few other parts too, but those are some good examples.

Anyway, having the original dialogue helps and makes this much more watchable than the standard Miramax re-release. The change in music is the biggest problem. It definitely suffers in mood from the loss of the original soundtrack. The tiny cuts will be missed by us who know the original, but aren't as much of a big deal to those who haven't already seen it, as they aren't essential to the main story and are short. It's a step in the right direction, but Miramax still has a way to go to give proper treatment to an HK film. Still, to see this on the big screen was a treat and I suggest all fans do so.

There are actually a lot more cuts than five. Some other ones I remember are:

When Wong Kei-ying says goodbye to his son and the son starts to cry, they show Wong Kei-ying turn around with a tear in his eye, but they cut the shot where he wipes the tear, mimicking his son's movement (a nicely ironic twist, since his son keeps mimicking him throughout the film).

A couple of shots of Wong Fei-hong being whipped while he is strung up by the evil monk were edited out.

The shot where Fox cuts off one of the monks heads when he tries to stop the evil monk from executing Wong Fei-hong.

When the real Iron Monkey shows up at the end (after Wong Kei-ying arrives first) and flings those shuriken (or whatever they are), they edited out a shot of a bunch of onrushing guards getting hit in the heads and chests.

The shot where Iron Monkey throws the burning piece of wood at the evil monk's head just before Wong Kei-ying kicks him into the fire was cut. The also cut a couple of shots of the monk burning to death.

Those were probably cut because they're incredibly fake and cheesy looking.

Did anyone else notice the digital changes in the movie? A few examples... When Fei-Hung is about to be branded, Iron Monkey throws little metal balls at it. This shot looks different. When Hin-Hung jumps through the brick wall near the end, in the old version, the wall looks cheap, as it bounces back and forth . There seemed to be no movement in the new version. Anyway, the new vesion is fantastic. I am a long time fan of HK movies, and I love the new version!

I'm just curious as to why they felt they needed to "tighten up" a 90-minute movie? We're not talking about an epic here.

I saw it in theatres the weekend and it was like I was watching it again for the first time. Sure a few scenes were cut but nothing major. Its hardly enough to say that mirimax hasn't done justice to it. Some of the fight scenes were minorly tweaked, but they were done by Wo-Ping himself. I thought the new soundtrack was ok.....but the fight sound effect5s were fantastic. THe punches and kicks and alot of bass t them and really added to the feel of the fights. Plus the picture quality was great too. You wouldn't know that it was a 9 year old movie unless someone told you. I can't wait for the dvd release. Even with no extras, I think the remastering and the new sound track will make it the best edition of the dvd (And yes I have own the Megastar and HKL versions of the dvd).

Also, just about every fight scene was cut, including two of the best - some of the fire sequence and some of Wong Kei-ying vs. The Iron Monkey the first time. And I don't know how "involved" Yuen Wo-Ping was in all this, of course he has to play the game and say so for the publicity, but I don't know when he would've had time to supervise this considering where he's been with his schedule, and I also highly doubt that he would've let them cut out the Wong Fei-Hung theme music that plays at various points throughout the film. I have no idea why they insist on cutting this music out of the films they release - not only is the music wonderful, of course, but it would also tie together all the Wong Fei-Hung films and help them sell DVDs to people who are just getting interested in Wong Fei-Hung - that theme song is a huge part of the appeal of that character - it's like dropping the Indiana Jones theme or something. And sometimes they'd drop the Wong Fei-Hung theme and put no new music in - over a scene that was directed and edited to have music - such as Wong Kei-ying's and Wong Fei-Hung's introcuction scene - as a result those scenes come off kind of lifeless - the same thing they did on a much larger scale to Drunken Master II.

Despite this stuff, it was still a blast to see this on the big screen with an appreciative crowd. I'll be seeing it more, for sure. It was done far better than they've done before, even if some of the changes hurt the film and were completely unnecessary - it's too bad they're just learning how to release these things, after putting Jackie Chan through the ringer and ruining so many of his films with horrible releases of them.

I just saw Iron Monkey in the theatres and was really impressed with the choreography. I do have one question though. I noticed that the fight scenes were really sped up. This is true for all Hong Kong movies. Why is that? This explains why Jet Li and Jackie Chan appear faster in their Hong Kong movies than they do in their American films. Are my eyes deceiving me?

ALot of hkflix sped up their fights...its what they like to call under-cranking....it really just adds to the feel..same thing with wire work. SOme people dig it and others just can't get into it.

better not.

great movie and a good dvd. i'm happy I bought this I'm not sure if it's worth $10 to watch the 90 mins of it in theaters when I can just watch the uncut 99mins of it on my dvd.

I'm not sure how good the new dvd for this will be. Only area really lacking was the actors area.. I would have liked to see more of that girl


she's cute!

Why the hell would they cut that? It's one of the funniest moments I've seen in a movie in a long time!

Hi There! I'm new.

First off I seen this movie on youtube, and was blown away ans said I have to have this on Bluray. Then this same week the Bluray came out so I was like can it be better timing? Then I researched the net and came to the conclusion that I should wait. Now a friend of mine got the Bluray and we watched it at his house.

Sorry. It was a totally different experience for me. I think they redid the english voice-over and cut out a lot of dialogue. WHICH IS A SHAME! (sorry for shouting). The intro killed it and not in a good way. It all started with the monks meditating. They cut out so much dialogue much of the jokes are gone.

So what did I do? I bought the DVD instead but.. bc. I am such a cheap bastard and the HKL Platinum 2 disc costs more than the Bluray. I went with the single disc edition. But.. and heres my question.


How do I know which release I have?

Info I got from my disc:

The cover states 'single disc edition' (not ‘Collector's Edition’ reported by dvdcompare.net)
The cover has a thick red outlining with a different picture I see on the american version.
It is however from HKL but bought in The Netherlands (Yes I'm from Europe and I am Dutch)
The cover says: anamorphic widescreen 1:78:1

Do I have the HKL ‘Collector's Edition’ which supposedly has better quality than the 2-Disc Platinum edition?

Hope you can help me answer this burning question..

BTW. I am also looking for shaolin vs ninja. and '5 element ninja' very hard to find..

maybe you have a bootleg...both HK Legends versions are 2 diskers...I don't know of a single-disk HK Legends Version...

Do you live in Amsterdam? You are lucky if so...I love the city and Holland DVDs...

Hey!

it's bought from a respected retail-store and it is released by a company called 'DutchFilmWorks'
On dvdcompare.net it mentions a HKL's collectors edition which is supposed to be a single disc version? But I do not know if I have that particular version or not.. Thanks for the Amsterdam comment. I live 20KM nearby

I seen the movie on YT again yesterday, LOVE IT!

Are there any used DVD stores in Amsterdam that you recommend? In Amsterdam, I remember the huge DVD store (on that main super long shopping street in the center) and one DVD store in one of those indoor shopping center mini-mall on the second or third floor...and there was a good DVD store on the main street in Haarlem...

I really love Amsterdam - I really believe it's paradise on Earth. I live in NYC and i've traveled all over, but I can't think of a more perfect city in the whole wide world than Amsterdam.