Dev Patel is an absolute star. He has pulled off a feat that is almost unprecedented in modern Hollywood. He writes, directs, produces, and stars in Monkey Man, an action movie that seems like a living nightmare to make.
From broken cameras to losing locations to almost getting shut down a few weeks before principal photography, this film looked like an uphill battle for the ages. But having seen the movie and how absolutely awesome it is, Patel’s work is a testament to the magic of filmmaking. The picture overcomes its own adversity to create an entertaining, violent revenge movie that does not hold back in the least.
Original action movies are hard to come by these days. Hollywood has languished in the malaise of IP and remakes. Sometimes, it’s understandable when you consider that they spent $200 million on Argylle and made back less than half of that at the box office. That’s part of why movies like Road House and Land of Bad are either sent to streaming or buried in the rubble.
Monkey Man was produced on a budget of a mere $10 million, which is not a lot for an action movie. But similar to John Wick — another movie about a very well-dressed killer out for revenge — it started out without a large budget and is now suited up to be a box office success and a kick-ass franchise.
We get introduced to our main character, played by Patel. We never learn his real name in the whole film, but we know him as the titular Monkey Man. He loses fights in underground fight clubs, makes money, and is trying to get a job. One line of dialogue that defines how committed he is from the beginning is when he tells a possible employer, “Give me the job no one wants to do and I’ll do it.” It’s not clear what’s happening at first, but as the film unfolds, we get more peeks into the trauma this character has endured, who he is looking for, what they have done to him, and why he is going down the path he’s headed towards.
The setting and production design is part of what makes Monkey Man feel so lived-in and raw. It has a very distinct voice, primarily set in India with a story infused with Indian culture. Patel clearly wanted to bring his personal culture into the film, and it pays off very well as we get a look at this landscape that features corrupt police and terrorism.
The texture is brought to life by cinematographer Sharone Meir, and there are some effective uses of color and atmosphere. Patel draws inspiration from martial arts classics here. There are bits of Bruce Lee’s invincibility, Jackie Chan’s improvised weapons, and the gritty fights of The Raid.
Patel also does something that very few have done outside of Hong Kong, which is direct and star in an action movie. It becomes more impressive because you can see Patel doing the majority of his stunts. This is a different beast than the Wick films, for example. Patel has to be performing the fights in front of the camera, then helming the style behind it.
It’s fascinating because the style he brings is unique. He puts the camera pretty close to the action, but he also uses some wide-angle lenses. There are POV shots, there’s always clarity in the fights, and there’s a lot of handheld to create a frenetic, dynamic movement. The musical score that plays over the fights can sometimes overpower the sounds of the punches and crashes, but besides that, the action is a strong element to this film.
Monkey Man is all about buildup, slowly getting you closer and closer to the action. Once we have our first major action set piece, it is a beautiful example of escalation, as the stakes and spectacle get bigger and bigger. As far as the protagonist goes, there are moments that feel like a Jackie Chan character or Rama from The Raid. One particular scene sees our action hero trying to escape the bad guys, failing in hilarious fashion, and then reluctantly needing to fight them all. This humanizes the character a lot, along with all of the tender moments in the film where we flash back to his relationship with his mother.
Patel throws in the occasional surreal, unconventional imagery that marks a strong directorial debut. On top of the popcorn-muching action, fights, blood, and violence that you want from Monkey Man, he gives you some really gut-wrenching imagery and moments that will stick with you. There’s a tragedy that drives our protagonist forward and once you know why he’s doing what he does, you want all of those villains to die in painful ways.
However, one thing to note is that this movie is not much of a thriller. The story gets driven forward by character drama, not suspense. The movie is much more focused in what the villain did in the past rather than what they are currently doing in the story. In other words, the villain’s present actions don’t drive the story forward; the villain’s past actions drive the hero forward.
Whenever there’s downtime in Monkey Man, it’s fueled by drama and the way the character grows. For example, we see our main character in a fight club early on. Before the final act, he returns to the fight club for another fighting sequence. This scene feels very distant from that drama surrounding his past and the villain, almost bringing that main story to a screeching halt. But it is the scene where he truly becomes Monkey Man. That finale then gives you all the hard R action that you don’t get very often in theaters anymore. This is where Patel starts playing around with longer takes and giving us truly rewarding, bloody violence that action movie junkies can relish in.
The story goes that producer Jordan Peele (director of Get Out, Us, and Nope) saw the movie and saved it from a streaming release on Netflix, persuading Universal Pictures to acquire the film and give it a theatrical release. Having seen the movie, I understand why.
SCORE: 8/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 8 equates to “Great.” While there are a few minor issues, this score means that the art succeeds at its goal and leaves a memorable impact.
