The Iron-Fisted Monk

The kung fu was fantastic, but the rape scenes were a bit much.

Sammo Hung's directorial debut has bewildering massive tonal shifts from slapstick to brutality. It shift f.e. from a humorous fight with Hung defending some bullied children to a gruesome, quite explicit rape. The fights are adequate, but are a bit static to be memorable.

This has a few good moments of Kung Fu fighting. A few rapes, a dozen murders, and lawlessness drive the meandering plot. There is lots of comedy and much of it is hit an miss. Atrociously bad music. No gore, but lots of pillaging and carnage before the final retaliation battles. There was a little too much unsatisfying choreography. It was not very immersive. Possibly worthwhile only if you are a Kung Fu junkie.

This is a very fun film with some great fight scenes, but there is a brutal and graphic rape scene that takes you out of the film as it doesn't belong here.

Crappy story, very average kung fu, and some gratuitous rape scenes.

Excellent directorial debut for Sammo Hung, one of Hong Kong's best screen fighters and choreographers. The rape scene is uncharacteristically nasty, but all of the martial arts are a joy to witness.