YMMV / Iron Monkey

• Complete Monster:
  • First film: Hin-hung is an evil Shaolin monk who betrayed his people, burned his temple, and took several students to be his servants in allying with the corrupt government. Using Governor Cheng to oppress, tax, and starve a town of people while regularly threatening him, Hin-hung gives free reign to his quartet of monks to brutalize and rape innocents as they wish. Upon taking over the city when Cheng fails him, Hin-hung immediately murders Cheng's loyal aide and proves himself a fat worse ruler than Cheng ever was. Hin-hung kidnaps young Wong Fei-hung and subjects the boy to bloody whipping, threatening his life to draw out Iron Monkey, and has his own minion Fox whipped and stabbed when Fox tries to save Fei-hung. Hin-hung further proves his utter contempt for the "weak" when he uses his own concubine as a Human Shield against a knife attack, then callously finishes her off when she pleads with him to tend her wounds.
  • Iron Monkey 2: Jade Faced Tiger, posing as an advisor to the Russian Embassey in Shanghai, secretly runs a Protection Racket extorting money from the locals. Leading a Carnival of Killers, Tiger orders his henchmen to terrorize civilian populations, with civilians massacred indiscriminately when they're unable to pay up, even telling his gunslingers to "test out" a shipment of high-caliber pistols in a crowded city street. When Jin's blind, elderly father is revealed to be affiliated with Iron Monkey, Tiger had him arrested and put through torture.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Roger Ebert liked it but was disappointed they didn't create an interesting situation where the audience is torn over who to root for, Yang who is trying to save the city, or Wong who wants to save his son.
• Retroactive Recognition: Donnie Yen plays Wong years before he'd play Ip Man or Chirrut Imwe.
• Sequelitis: Even the most hardcore Donnie Yen fans probably never heard of the In Name Only sequel, Iron Monkey 2 released 3 years later. Which is set in an entirely different era, starring Donnie as the titular character.

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