Like many, I was introduced to Dev Patel as Jamal in the film Slumdog Millionaire, the lovable main character on the Indian version of the game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire as he goes through his life as he tries to connect with a lost love. Seen as an affable young leading man who works well in comedies and dramas, for me, he felt more like the Tom Hanks to Riz Ahmed’s Denzel Washington type with their space in the Hollywood system as South Asian leading men. The one thing I never expected from him was to be an action star. Now, I know he was in The Green Knight, but I can’t speak about that since I haven’t had a chance to watch much of it. Yet it feels like others in decision-making positions had the same line of thinking as me regarding Patel, so he took it upon himself to make his own action vehicle – Monkey Man. Now, this film will be compared to John Wick a lot, and it is probably too much for my taste. Dev Patel’s directorial debut, along with coming up with the story and co-writing the screenplay, makes you feel how much of a passion project this film is for him. After seeing it, I instantly knew why Jordan Peele came in to assist in getting this film to a theatrical release. It’s a film that, for me, really does work with having it on a large screen in a dark room full of people.
The film is about a young man who we never learn their name but is driven to get revenge on the corrupt people who caused the death of his mother and ruined his life. While he searches for these people, he fights in an underground fight ring wearing a monkey mask, going by the name “Monkey Man.” Connected to the Indian Hindu stories of Hanuman, our hero finally finds out where these people are and attempts to get his righteous revenge. The setup for this story is quite simple and easy to understand; what’s different is that, especially for a film meant for the Western system, is just how much it’s about India and issues affecting the people there. The class issues and corruption issues are something that is relatable as some of the things happening in the film that are happening there are also happening here in the West. With all these deeper themes going on there, the film still has a lot of very entertaining fights and action sequences. They’re not all perfect, especially later on with all the digital blood. At times it reminded me of watching RAMBO (the fourth film, not just the character) in how much the computer blood was used. These fights, for me, had more influence from The Raid films than Wick (and Wick is very much influenced by those, too) in how accessible they feel. You can understand and see what’s happening. Even if Patel is passing out fades like pancakes at IHOP he’s not invincible. You see him catch some fair ones, and like some good Shonen stories, he takes an L and has to train to unlock new strength.
Patel does some fun stuff with how the camera moves through the scenes during the fights and in certain parts where he shows how things can move through the city’s lower classes. There’s a part in the middle where it gets a bit slow in its pacing, but they do add an interesting element of a transwoman community in a temple that helps the hero. It’s a part of that culture that we get zero windows into, and I feel putting them in and helping him adds to the story of making him a hero who’s more than his selfish need for revenge. It reminded me of Monkey D. Luffy’s time escaping prison to save his brother Ace and needing help from Emporio Ivankov. To not wholly derail this review, please go look up that One Piece arc. As you can tell, I got a lot out of this film, and Monkey Man really delighted the action-fight movie fan in me. It’s a furious cinematic experience and a fantastic debut for Dev Patel as a director and a game-changer for him as a star.
Score: B+
