Deke Rivers

any opinions on this one? I thought Crouching Tiger was boring but according to DVDFILE if you liked the fight scenes in TIGER but found the desert scenes boring then this is the movie for you...IM not a hard core kung fu fan( I only own Bruce Lee and Sonny Chiba movies on DVD) but this one seemed interesting

codefree

I liked Iron Monkey better than CTHD. Go for the HKL disc of Iron Monkey - it's

young

iron monkey is a very good wire-fu movie. pick it up.

what's so special about the HKL version? i have the HK version.

RichardW

The anamorphic print.

UAIOE

I thought CTHD was alright, but i enjoyed Iron Monkey WAY more.

Get the movie but i'd either get the HK version or the HKL version. That disney version...blah.

Deke Rivers

what is the Disney version? There is one being released this Tuesday..which one is that???

Crizzar

it's not fair to compare CTHD to Iron Monkey...CTHD is a tragedy/romance with the occasional fight scene with only ONE real martial artist (Yeoh). It's like saying if you liked the action scenes in Schindlers List, you'd like Behind Enemy Lines....doesn't hold up.

Iron Monkey is an action flick all the way through where all the performers are real martial artists.

I love Iron Monkey and should be enjoyed for the fun that it is.

UAIOE

Thats the Disney version coming out on Tuesday. The reason i'm dissing it is because i refuse to buy any disney distributed HK movies. Even if i didnt already own the HK version i wouldnt buy Disney's because i do not agree with thier editing/dubbing only policy when it comes to certain asian movies.


I'm not going to turn this into another "Anti-Disney" thread, so all i will say is that (if you havent already) please click on the link on my sig about the disney HK DVD's.

trae

I didn't like Iron Monkey at all. But I guess if you just want some brainless cheesy action....the martial arts was pretty good however. If you must get it, don't get the Disney version, most likely to be edited and without the original language track...at least thats what their history has been with all their HK movie releases.

edit
-----
I stand corrected, the disney release of Iron Monkey includes the original language soundtrack amazingingly...however they still BLOW because of what they have done in the past. Hopefully they have changed their ways permanently.

JHosk

Iron Monkey is a classic wire-fu movie. Definitely in my top ten of all time HK favorites. Even non-kung-fu enthusiasts enjoy it. I dragged a bunch of co-workers to it, and they all liked it.

I am surprised to see the Disney disc being slammed without people giving it a shot. I own the HK R0 disc and have seen the HKL R2 disc. While both are good discs, I think the Disney disc will blow them away in terms of Picture and Sound quality. It looked amazing on the big screen and the fight soundtrack was amazing. Lots of bass and surrounds. It was like watching the movie again. Also, the original soundtrack was in-tack. They DID however edit out a few scenes (for whatever reason I don't know) and the sub-titles are a little different as well (which is no big deal because sub-titles always have in-correct stuff in them anyways).

The disc retails for 23 bucks here (Canadian) which is a good price, so I say its worth a look.

Deke Rivers

deas anyone know what scenes they did edit out?

Vanian

Here is a list of what's been edited.
http://www.hkfilm.net/disney/cuts/ironmonkey.html

UAIOE

It's not about picture or sound quality its about getting the message throught to Disney that i want my HK movies un-touched by their grubby little hands. Yeah the cuts in Iron Monkey werent very major but what about Fist of Legend? Fong Sai Yuk (The Legend)? Fong Sai Yuk has 11 minutes cut out of it.

I'm against the Disney release of any HK movie untill they get thier act together and treat HK movie fans with better respect. IF and when Disney improves thier HK movie releases then i will gladly recommend them to others, untill then buy the HK orginal or a HKL version (if avaible)

ipkevin

Just an additional note about the Disney version: It is NOT the original Cantonese soundtrack, but an all-new Cantonese track. It's unusual since they usually just dub it into English, but this time they created a new Chinese track as well. This IMHO is a lot more acceptable.

JaxComet

How does Disney get the rights to these films to begin with?

jtkv

most people in R1 will buy the Disney DVD anyways...
It's prabably a good DVD technically, but the content has been molested; It is re-edited, cut, and soundtrack completely changed.

At least there will be a Chinese soundtrack, and not just an English dub.

A completely new Chinese soundtrack is no better than an English dubbed soundtrack. Always need to stick to the original soundtrack....


J.T.

UAIOE

They buy the rights to distribute the movie in North America...but in the case of Drunken Master 2 i think they have world wide distribution rights.


No Drunken Master 2 with its intended aspect ratio and orginala cantonese track




P.S. Personally i thought poster artwork for Iron Monkey was thousands of times better than any of the DVD artwork i have seen.

jfinesse2000

The Chinese dialog is the same. Only the music and effects were re-recorded.

JHosk

I agree with you that Disney's English dubbing is absurd, but alot of casual kung-fu movie fans prefer the dubbing. They are just no used to reading subs. The biggest problem I have with Disney is that they are trying to force people to buy their product and not the HK couterpart.

In terms of Iron Monkey, I don't know about you but I would much rather watch it with a beutiful anamorphic re-mastered picture and audio (still not dubbed), where the fight scenes pack a huge whallop. I had seen the movie probably 25 times on VHS and the two prior available dvd editions, and when I saw the Disney re-release it simply blew me away.....like I said before....like I was watching it again for the first time. Maybe if sales for Iron Monkey are strong Disney will realize they don't need to dub these movies....just remaster them with better picture and better sound.

JaxComet

I can't agree with this. Obviously you can spot an English dub a mile away, but unless you speak Chinese you're not going to really be able to distinguish one Chinese soundtrack from a slightly altered one.

jtkv

What I meant:
Dubbed Chinese, unless they used the exact dialog to match the actors lip movement, will look like an English dub, as the lips will not be synched.
Plus if they used voices that don't match the characters, it'll be lame even to non-Chinese speaking viewers...



J.T.

UAIOE

Wasn't Iron Monkey made around the time HK studios started using on set audio?

I thought that was around 92-93 when they started that up.

jfinesse2000

A few started recording live dialog around that time. Police Story 3 was one of the first well known films to be shot with sound. But even today some films in HK are shot without sound. Legend of Zu is an example.

devilshalo

I liked Iron Monkey, but....

I'm not a very big fan of undercranking to achieve some of the faster paced fight scenes (speeding up the fights). That just bugs me... Take a lesson from Chang Cheh and overcrank (56 - 72 fps)to really show the grace and beauty of fight scenes.

ChowYunFat

You know I have said this before and I will say it again until someone listens. If you guys would stop complaining about movies and actually read something you would know that Wo-ping (for those who don't know is the director of Iron Monkey) ok'd the edits. He said that he needed to tighten up the movie. He felt that the movie played to loosely and the US release was the perfect opportunity to do so. So the version that Disney has released is the version that Wo-ping wanted released. So there, you can all go back to complaining about something else.

PS: I thought that coming to this forum would educate me about DVD's and movies. But I see that while there is a lot of people on this forum that have helped me out, most of you people cry about everything. This is pathetic. Why don't you guys get off your fat behinds, walk (or roll) to the TV and actually WATCH a movie and stop complaining about everything that you can think of. I like to WATCH movies. I don't care if theres a scratch here or some dirt there. I don't care about the fact that there might be some overscan or the fact that the movie is framed differently then what I thought I remembered. I just WATCH the movie. I feel that I am blessed to have the movie to watch and you guys should too. So the next time you watch a movie or want to complain about something just think about the fact that you might not be able to watch the movie tomorrow. Tomorrow is a blessing. Just live for today.