Plot

In 1940s Shanghai, a tough, up-and-coming gangster goes against an old gangster and his treacherous second in command, and comes to find that when the chips are down, only his fist is by his side.

Chen Kuan-tai exuded incredible power on screen, which his directors used to great advantage in this fight-filled follow-up to the smash hit The Boxer From Shantung -- which culminates in an incredible climatic battle, choreographed by the legendary Liu Chia-liang and Chen Chuan.—Celestial Pictures

Man of Iron was positioned as something of a follow-up to Boxer From Shantung, the rise-and-fall story of Ma Yung Chen and it reunites the directors and some of the cast in a similar but much slighter tale of a lesser gangster's rise and fall in Shanghai. While the opening narration specifically recalls the events and tragic conclusion of BOXER, this one is set 20 years later in the same section of Shanghai but otherwise has nothing to do with the events or characters of the previous film.