Jue dou Lao Hu Zhuang

Many times the sequel film to the original is a weak "wannabe" of the first and this film keeps that theory correct. Cool Head is a detective that is committed to his job. The first 30 minutes involves a killing that Head tries to solve. The apparent killer is captured by Head but then the detective has doubts. Then starts the confusion in this film. There are 3 women that start to follow Head around the country. Killers also track Head and try to kill him. The women help Head. Fight scenes show nothing extraordinary. The final fight is somewhat interesting but the ending is confusing as to what happens to the detective. If you have nothing else and you feel like watching a confusing martial arts film then watch this.

For a kung fu movie that was released by the "Wu-Tang Collection," I was surprised to see how poorly made this movie was. I have not had the opportunity to see the first Iron Monkey, therefore I don't know what the standard the second movie was set to, so I have a little trouble saying that this movie was not up to par. However, there were many things about this movie that made it one of the lesser enjoyed kung fu movies I have seen.

Of all the things of this movie that made this movie weak, I would say that the film quality was the worst. Everything was grainy, sometimes the movie skipped and repeated a few seconds of footage and the lighting was beyond hope. Other weaknesses were the lack of real explanation for fights. Like in most other kung fu movies, at least a "Hey! You killed my brother!" was yelled, but not here. Not even that was uttered. One time, it was only the protagonist asking his friend "Hey, is this your knife?" and then they fought. No explanation. They just fought. Also, the fighting was pretty lame and slow. It was much slower than the other kung fu movies I have seen. There were also a lot of punches that were portrayed as hits, but were obvious misses. And how about that last fight scene! I have never seen so many people in one room all fighting each other. But what was so bad about that, is that there was very little character development for many of the minor characters, so it was very confusing to understand who was fighting who, and for what reason they were fighting.

Moderate plot, even worse cinematography, terrible lighting, bad fighting... this movie needed more time for choreography and script writing. People say that the first Iron Monkey was great, a legend of it's time, but I haven't seen it, so I can't comment. I can only say, I hope it was better than the second one.

-Scott-

**Final Judgement** More than one person may own a certain type of knife. Don't charge them with murder for it.

OK, I'm a huge fan of all kung-fu films, iron monkey, hero, crouching tiger hidden dragon etc but this is terrible. the dubbing is terrible the fights are slow and stiff, there is no creative side of it or any conclusion. The main character is called Detective Cool Head !!! Although i do like the swords featured on the cover, that are also seen in crouching tiger, this movie is impossible to understand and follow, word to the wise don't watch it. I recommend, Hero , House of the flying daggers , Iron Monkey (90's),Once upon a time in china , kill bill ( vol 1 & 2 ),and most of Bruce lee's films. The Camera Work is terrible in this film and there is no story.

First off let me say that the original "Iron Monkey" (aka Iron Ape) was released in 1955. Also The Sequel (Iron Ape part 2) and The Concluding Episode (Iron Ape part 3)(Finale) were made in 1955.

"The Iron Monkey" was released in 1977. This movie is called "Duel at the Tiger Village"... I don't know why it's promoted as aka "Iron Monkey Strikes Back" or "Iron Monkey II". I guess it's to lure in sales (most people should realize this by now). It has nothing to do with Iron Monkey and never did.

For those of you that bought Iron Monkey II, oh well sorry for you. And for those that compare it to Iron Monkey (1993) are comparing apples to oranges. You might as well watch "Iron Monkey 2" (1996) and compare it to this one. These are 20 years apart....

For those of you who like the '70's fu flicks and enjoyed watching Black Belt Theatre, then you'll like this movie. It has a good story and plot, good action, so find a good print that isn't chopped and butchered and enjoy.

For those who aren't intelligent enough or too young to understand or enjoy 70's kung fu flicks, then move on and stick with your 90's movies.

I give this a 6.5

A very nice movie to watch when you know it's a B-film. The story is fairly simple but OK. The kung-fu scenes are very nice to watch, there is humor and enouhg speed and no (mostly boring and irrelevant love-scenes). Although the acrobatic at the end is hilarious it's funny and at the end teh good guys win.