‘Monkey Man’ Review: Dev Patel’s Confident Directorial Debut is a Beast of the Action Revenge Genre | SXSW 2024
Dating as far back as 1500 BC, the legendary Hindu deity Hanuman has been seen as a symbol of strength, courage, devotion, and freedom within Indian culture. Physically invincible yet human to his core, he is the counterpoint to all of those who’ve abused their power and mistreated the vulnerable. He is a servant for the people, a symbolic peacemaker that can provide the necessary balance in unstable times. In Dev Patel’s directorial debut, Monkey Man, we see Hanuman reborn in the form of Kid (played by Patel), a broken man looking to seek his form of justice on those who not only betrayed his family but continued to harm the people of India for a decade plus. With this re-imagination, the actor-turned-director has conjured up an action-packed, spiritual spectacle that elevates the revenge film formula, making for an impressive directorial debut.
When we first find Kid, he is fighting in an underground boxing circuit owned by Tiger (Sharlto Copley). Tiger has been forcing the impressionable young man to lose his matches to gain profit from him. Copley shines brightest in his performance when he is in the ring, turning the crowd against Kid when he is on the mic hyping everyone up. He makes Kid a villain within the matches; “The Beast” becomes his nickname as he gets beaten within an inch of his life, night after night, all for a little bit of cash, donning a monkey mask. In these opening action sequences, we get a full sense of the visual flare as the camera moves patiently throughout the matches to make you feel each blow landing on Kid’s chin. But Kid is letting Tiger believe he is in control, as he knows losing means you make more money, as he is saving to get a gun to kill Rana (a menacing Sikandar Kher), the corrupt police officer who killed Kid’s mother and left substantial burns on Kid’s hands.
Shot primarily in Indonesia, Patel and his team create a vibrant world in the fictional Indian city of Yatan, a Sanskrit word that can mean “struggle” and “vengeance.” The city has been run into the ground by Baba Shakti (Makarand Deshpande), a sociopath leader who disguises his disdain for people and his deranged ambitions in the robes of kindness and wisdom. He is nothing more than a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a modern-day gangster with enough connections to keep all of those under him obsessed and deep within the web of deception he has created. With this, it has created an underground world of survivors to which Kid has become connected, and he can rely on the assistance of others like him to get him the gun necessary to complete his mission and help steal the wallet of Queenie (Ashwini Kalsekar), the manager of the local club where the rich and power go to nightly. In presenting himself as a useful resource, Queenie takes a chance on Kid, giving him the job of a dishwasher, landing him firmly where he wants to be.
Once he is in, he slowly makes his way up the ranks to get closer and closer to Rana, as he befriends Alphonso (Pitobash), the local hustler who sells drugs and whatever else Queenie needs to be brought into the club weekly. By winning Alphonso money at one of his fights for Tiger, Kid can get into good graces with him to get a promotion as a waiter in the club upstairs, where he knows Rana and his other associates will come. But as he is working up there, Kid sees how the damage that this world of corruption and vulgarity has created, leading people to believe that they are above any form of morality. Drugs, drinks, and escorts are used as disposable pawns to the powerful elite, no longer vices but rather tools to show control over the weak. Patel’s screenplay beautifully blends in minor characters like Sita (Sobhita Dhulipala), an escort within the club that bonds with Kid, as they are part of a system of oppression that has been around longer than they have been alive, but with his arrival, he is looking to change that for good.
After weeks of patience, Rana makes his appearance at the club, and time stops as Kid observes how he is going to kill the man responsible for ruining his world. Cinematographer Sharone Meir beautifully captures every intense emotion out of Patel’s fantastic performance, while also being able to properly light every scene filmed inside the dark, neon-lit club. As he makes his move to Rana and pulls out the gun, he freezes up, setting off a chain of events where Kid has to not only fight off Rana and his associates but run for his life from the corrupt cops that are on Baba Shakti and Queenie’s payroll. In one of the best action sequences in years, Patel showcases his pure action star talent alongside the excellent editing work from Dávid Jancsó and Tim Murrell to make this night chase feel propulsive and thrilling the whole way through. By the end of his bloody escape, he had been cut to shreds, shot in the leg, and hit by a car. Much like his character, Patel was put through the wringer making Monkey Man, as he broke his hand, ribs, and various other body parts while shooting the film. This level of commitment is showcased throughout, proving that Patel is one of the most dedicated artists of his generation.
Knocked out from the car crash and bleeding to death, Kid is saved by Alpha (Vipin Sharma), the mother of a mystical third-gender tribe known as the hijra. Labeled as criminals for being different from the “normal” religious figures in Hindu culture, they have been forced underground, where they help Kid’s physical recovery from his injuries, as well as help him find his inner peace and focus, as he is still struggling with the death of his mother from when he was a child. From a visual standpoint, this might be the strongest section of Patel’s debut, as he blends in the tragedy of the past to help the healing process of the present to forge Kid’s future. While this slows down the film’s pace some, it allows us to dive deeply into the emotional core of this broken boy, and what rises out of the ashes is a focused, determined figure destined to complete his mission with the guidance of the lessons Alpha has taught him. This leads to a balls-to-the-wall, nonstop, action-packed finale that delivers some of the best kills outside of the John Wick franchise, with an elevator death that rivals the intensity of the foot-stomping death in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive.
Influences are clearly at the forefront of Patel’s film, as he pays clear homage to Enter the Dragon, Oldboy, The Raid, and other excellent films from the Asian-art-action genre. But those films, as well as others like Blade Runner, John Wick, and the action epics of Bollywood, are only used as a reference point for Patel. In creating Monkey Man, he has forged his own niche in this genre that carries a ton of artistic fire alongside the right amount of emotional weight to make this film stand out over other lackluster efforts from plenty of directors who’ve tried to do this before. Much like Jordan Peele, his fellow producer on this project, Patel has announced himself as a directorial voice to be reckoned with a knockout, confident debut.
Grade: B+
This review is from the 2024 SXSW Film Festival. Universal Pictures will release Monkey Man only in theaters on April 5, 2024.
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