Monkey Man (2024)

User Review

• 

  Barneyonmovies

  7 / 10

  WHAT I LIKED: Dev Patel's directorial debut 'Monkey Man,' is an action revenge story with an interesting religious and political angle.
  
  It follows a young Hindu man living in the slums of Mumbai and working as an underground boxer who - for a reason that's not initially clear - seeks out a second job at a brothel for the rich elite. It's eventually revealed this is part of his plan to find and kill the Police chief and political guru responsible for the ethnic cleansing of his hometown (including his mother), and though he initially fails, he then seeks guidance from a small Hindu temple and eventually succeeds on his mission in full fist-clenched, blood-thirsty John Wick mode.
  
  The exact parallels to Indian politics will be foreign to most audience members (myself included) but there is apparently a big problem with corruption and Hindu Nationalism at the moment, particularly around the persecution of Muslims, so whilst this story doesn't exactly mirror that, there are certainly some thematic parallels.
  
  If nothing else though, all of that stuff gives the central character motivation some real weight, and Dev Patel then does a great job at selling the determination both in front of and behind the camera. His steely gaze and bottled emotion and rage are palpable, and the explosions of tension are executed very well with lots of well-choreographed but brilliantly messy action scenes. Plus the sense of place that Patel manages to capture with his on location shooting, smart camera angles and gritty production details do wonders to ground the story further.
  
  WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: It's not the most profound film, and the politics are a bit muddy when you look into it, but for what it is, it's great stuff.
  
  VERDICT: 'Monkey Man,' is an action revenge story that's given a bit of extra weight with its central character's motivations and its brilliant sense of place.

  Like?

  0 member like this review.