Monkey Man is a revenge-action movie that follows Patel, who is never given a name except for a fake “Bobby” to avenge the people who burned down his village and killed his mother. In his directorial debut, Patel creates a high-tension, visceral story about the lengths one man will go to bring justice for those who have been betrayed by the more powerful.
Dev Patel is absolutely electric in front of the camera. He carries so much weight and emotion as he infiltrates the club owned by the people responsible for his mother’s death. I didn’t know this but Patel is a black belt in taekwondo and you can tell in his actions that he is very experienced. It’s something you notice with actors like Jason Statham, where you can see they understand the nuances of hand-to-hand combat and pick up subtle advantages they have to win their fights.
Patel’s fights were extremely well choreographed and shot, but he’s never made to be an invincible being with plot armor. He is beaten, shot, stabbed, and has to essentially be brought back to life to even get to the climax. But it’s the moments we see him at his most broken, physically and emotionally that we are so drawn to him as a person.
The revenge action movie is not a niche genre by any means, but Patel truly makes Monkey Man stand out by how personal he makes the movie. Two instances stand out for me.
The first is when he has his first chance to kill his mother’s killer, corrupt police chief Rana Singh. He confronts him in a bathroom alone with a gun, but he’s too emotional from the years of pent-up rage and grief to pull the trigger. As a result, he gets beat and almost dies trying to escape. After he trains in the forest and unlocks his memories to relieve himself of the pain, he can keep his composure and work his way through the building to fight Singh again, this time with nothing but his own hands.
I thought it was interesting that in the first encounter, he brought a gun, which is not an intimate weapon to try to kill Singh and his emotions get the best of him. The second time, he has let out all the repressed pain and chooses to fight him with his hands, dealing out the pain he felt all those years ago.
The second thing is the parallel between Bobby’s village and the village in the forest that takes him in and heals him. His village was burnt down by a corrupted religious leader, Baby Shakti, who claims the land as holy and has the police kill everyone who stands in the way. The village that takes him in as an adult is comprised of mostly transgender people.
The group has been attacked by Shakti and cast aside by society. When Bobby’s village was burnt down, there was no one to protect them from the corrupt leaders, and they were massacred. Now Bobby gives these people not only a savior to defeat the corruption but the strength to fight themselves.
Something I realized I liked a lot too is how little of a role the side characters play. I say this as a compliment because each side character was of equal weight to the story while never falling into stereotypical roles. For instance, there’s a woman who would normally be the love interest in any other action movie, but here, they only say a few words together, share some stares, and she helps him kill one of the big bad. That’s it, there’s no kiss, there’s no emotions, no grand gestures to indicate any sort of love. She just exists in her own world and isn’t subservient to him.
Behind the camera, it is so hard to ignore how much Patel put into making this movie. He broke his hand during the filming of the first fight scene and that would not be the end of all the physical trauma he put himself through. He wanted to give India better representation in action he’s said in interviews how he would’ve normally been cast as a comedic relief character or a hacker to help the cooler action star.
Jordan Peele deserves massive praise for his help with Monkey Man as well. When Patel was shopping this movie around, Netflix swooped in and bought the rights for streaming. However, they got cold feet and worried about how well the movie would do given its political commentary and we’re reportedly getting close to canceling the release. Peele had seen the film and loved it, getting his Monkey Paw Productions studio involved and getting Universal to buy the rights and get the movie a theatrical release.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Monkey Man is incredible. The action is fluid and engaging, the soundtrack is nothing if not bangers after bangers, and the story is emotionally compelling. Dev Patel proves that not only can he lead an action movie, but he can direct the hell out of a movie. Thankfully, this movie is in theaters now, so please go watch it now.
