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With: Dev Patel, Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Ashwini Kalsekar, Makrand Deshpande, Vipin Sharma, Sikandar Kher, Adithi, Kalkunte, Sobhita Dhulipala
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Written by: Paul Angunawela, John Collee, based on a story by Dev Patel
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Directed by: Dev Patel
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MPAA Rating: R for strong bloody violence throughout, language throughout, sexual content/nudity and drug use
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Running Time: 121
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Date: 04/05/2024
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Primate Time
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Dev Patel's feature directing debut Monkey Man is essentially a John Wick-type revenge action movie with some Rocky-style training montage stuff thrown in, but it's somehow weirdly satisfying nonetheless.
Patel doesn't even try to hide that Wick is an influence on Monkey Man; a character that sells the hero a gun mentions the movie by name.
An unnamed man — he introduces himself with the fake name "Bobby" (Dev Patel) — works in an underground fight ring, playing a monkey and getting beat up night after night. His boss (Sharlto Copley) treats him like trash and doesn't pay unless he bleeds. He has flashes of some kind of childhood trauma, and seems some kind of grim goal in mind. He gets wind of a crime boss called Queenie (Ashwini Kalsekar), and launches an elaborate plan to get into her inner circle.
He begins as a dishwasher, and then, with the help of Queenie's errand boy Alphonso (Pitobash), he advances to server, bringing drinks to wealthy and powerful customers. There, he finds what he has been looking for, and he launches his final plan of revenge. But things do not go as planned.
The fighting-shooting-punching-kicking-stabbing-throwing-running-falling choreography is even similar, but Patel's camera approach is different. He chooses hand-held cameras and goes in close, and at times, it feels as if the camera operator may be in physical danger. Normally the effect would be claustrophobic and nauseating, but here it somehow works.
Maybe it's because of the movie's bold, threatening color scheme, or its sheer kinetic energy. Or maybe it's because of the movie's "monkey" themes, bringing in the classic story of Hanuman as a character metaphor, and making our hero more relatable. Even the training sequences click, with Patel hammering on a bag of rice while a tabla player provides a rhythmic beat for him.
Perhaps it's the final villain that works best of all. He's Baba Shakti (Makarand Deshpande), a guru-type cult leader running for office, who keeps his loyal supporters enthralled with by wiping out "undesirables" and "making India great again."
The final showdown is most rewarding. Not to mention that Monkey Man adds another, most welcome, nonwhite character to the canon of action heroes. It will be interesting to see if Patel keeps adding to the story.
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