*Some Minor Spoilers*
I rented "Iron Monkey 2" with a fair bit of skepticism. I'd heard it was a poor follow-up to the amazing "Iron Monkey," and unfortunately, those rumours turned out to be correct. IM2 is a seriously flawed movie, especially with the terrible dubbing.
Other than the intermittent presence of Donnie Yen, "Iron Monkey 2" doesn't even seem connected to the original. I'm sure the backstory is established somewhere, but the movie as a whole is so disjointed and unfocused that it's hard to tell what's going on.
In fact, it's this lack of focus which is precisely the movie's worst flaw. There are way too many subplots going on. Wu Ma is searching for his long-lost father (the identity of whom I guessed within about 5 seconds), a pair of orphans are swindling the bad guys, and Donnie Yen is kind of wandering in and out of the movie, alternately going to church and raiding arms shipments. I have to wonder about Yen's commitment to the movie, given that his Iron Monkey only seems to sporadically appear when needed (in many other cases, Wu Ma takes on the burden of fighting evil).
None of these plots tie together very well at all. At times, I found myself asking if I was still watching the same movie. The orphans' story, while charming in its own way, seriously distracted from the rest of the story. The villains' aims were never particularly well-defined (the guy wanted guns, that's about all I could tell), and as a result, the Iron Monkey himself didn't have a very well-defined enemy to fight against. In some ways I found myself questioning the relevance of the Iron Monkey, and wondering why this was even considered a sequel to the original.
The fights are definitely quite good and have their moments, although again, I don't think they compare to the original "Iron Monkey." I'd rather watch the Donnie Yen/Yu Rongguang fight from the original than the tepid fight between Yen and Wu Ma in the second. On the other hand, I got a real thrill when Donnie pulled out the "cloth stick" -- the same weapon he famously wielded against Jet Li in "Once Upon a Time in China II." He certainly didn't disappoint -- when he was on screen, anyway.
Overall, "Iron Monkey 2" is a disjointed mess of a movie, with a few bright fight scenes scattered throughout. Those fights are definitely interesting, but they lack the same heart of the original. Taken on its own terms, IM2 isn't awful; when compared to the original, it's a big disappointment. Overall, I'd give this movie a 4 out of 10.
I rented "Iron Monkey 2" with a fair bit of skepticism. I'd heard it was a poor follow-up to the amazing "Iron Monkey," and unfortunately, those rumours turned out to be correct. IM2 is a seriously flawed movie, especially with the terrible dubbing.
Other than the intermittent presence of Donnie Yen, "Iron Monkey 2" doesn't even seem connected to the original. I'm sure the backstory is established somewhere, but the movie as a whole is so disjointed and unfocused that it's hard to tell what's going on.
In fact, it's this lack of focus which is precisely the movie's worst flaw. There are way too many subplots going on. Wu Ma is searching for his long-lost father (the identity of whom I guessed within about 5 seconds), a pair of orphans are swindling the bad guys, and Donnie Yen is kind of wandering in and out of the movie, alternately going to church and raiding arms shipments. I have to wonder about Yen's commitment to the movie, given that his Iron Monkey only seems to sporadically appear when needed (in many other cases, Wu Ma takes on the burden of fighting evil).
None of these plots tie together very well at all. At times, I found myself asking if I was still watching the same movie. The orphans' story, while charming in its own way, seriously distracted from the rest of the story. The villains' aims were never particularly well-defined (the guy wanted guns, that's about all I could tell), and as a result, the Iron Monkey himself didn't have a very well-defined enemy to fight against. In some ways I found myself questioning the relevance of the Iron Monkey, and wondering why this was even considered a sequel to the original.
The fights are definitely quite good and have their moments, although again, I don't think they compare to the original "Iron Monkey." I'd rather watch the Donnie Yen/Yu Rongguang fight from the original than the tepid fight between Yen and Wu Ma in the second. On the other hand, I got a real thrill when Donnie pulled out the "cloth stick" -- the same weapon he famously wielded against Jet Li in "Once Upon a Time in China II." He certainly didn't disappoint -- when he was on screen, anyway.
Overall, "Iron Monkey 2" is a disjointed mess of a movie, with a few bright fight scenes scattered throughout. Those fights are definitely interesting, but they lack the same heart of the original. Taken on its own terms, IM2 isn't awful; when compared to the original, it's a big disappointment. Overall, I'd give this movie a 4 out of 10.