Dev Patel makes his directorial debut with Monkey Man, a bloody revenge action movie to rival John Wick.
★★★★✰
“You like John Wick?” asks an arms dealer, handing over a sleek black firearm which wouldn’t look out of place in Keanu Reeves’ hands. This moment early on in Monkey Man is a bold statement of intent from writer/director Dev Patel. He knows what film audiences will compare his directorial debut to, and he doesn’t shy away from it. Rather than the Wick-esque choice, Patel’s character instead opts for a far more conspicuous weapon: a big shiny revolver with some weight behind it.
While both films could certainly duke it out in the same ring, they ultimately belong in different weight classes. Whilst Monkey Man delivers on ever-escalating and impressively choreographed fight sequences, it doesn’t quite beat out John Wick in this respect. The flip side is that Patel’s film has far more resonance, and a cultural authenticity to its plot, setting and world that John Wick fundamentally lacks. In short: John Wick has better stunts, but Monkey Man has a far better story.
And the story is more intricate than you’d expect. Dev Patel plays Kid, a bare-knuckle boxer in a fictionalised Mumbai, who each night enters the ring wearing a monkey mask to fight rigged matches he’s paid to lose. This is clearly a low point for Kid, and his withered hands and beaten demeanour give us the sense that he’s been here for quite a while. Flashbacks give us glimpses of something in his past that still haunts him. A loved one lost to brutality dished out by corrupt authorities, now under the leadership of a dangerous religious leader.
These plotlines complement each other remarkably well, with contemporary themes of social inequality, political polarisation and scapegoating of minority groups being channelled powerfully through Kid’s revenge arc. Kid fights wearing a monkey mask as he sees himself reflected in Hanuman, the Hindu monkey god characterised by his willingness to help others, and he makes a convincing champion for the beaten and marginalised throughout society.
Much of that is down to how sensational Dev Patel is in this film. With his lanky frame, Patel is certainly an unconventional action hero, but the fury and intensity with which he carries himself in fight sequences make the idea of him taking on an army of far beefier opponents more plausible.
Patel also proves himself as a writer and director, with a strong vision and sense of place. This fictionalised version of Mumbai teems with energy, with one scene of a turbo-charged tuk tuk racing through the maze-like streets being a particular stand-out. Our expectations on how a fight scene will go are constantly up-ended, and for that reason alone we should be grateful that Jordan Peele pushed for this to get a theatrical release. Monkey Man deserves to be seen with an audience, wincing and groaning throughout.
The Verdict
Monkey Man is a remarkable debut from Dev Patel, who proves himself to be an exciting filmmaking talent. The film’s ever-escalating action set pieces are filled with surprises, and Patel’s performance brings an enjoyably frantic energy to these sequences. A real audience pleaser.
Words by Jake Abatan
Monkey Man is in cinemas now.
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