The movie came out right before a significant election in a country known for its diverse culture and vibrant democracy. Dev Patel shows everything that's been happening in the country for over 30 years-religious terrorism, ethnic cleansing, mob culture, and hate politics are all shown without holding back.

Nowadays, due to Al, there are lots of song edits that make you feel sympathetic towards people you should be criticizing. This movie reminds us to be firm and stand up to technology that tries to control us instead of being fair.

Ambitious…. But messy.

There is some good stuff here but also some things that just didn’t work. At times the action looked phenomenal, at other times I couldn’t follow what was happening with the shakey cam and the way some of it was cut. I liked the story and exploring the past. The training break between 2nd and 3rd act was the weakest part of the movie. Also felt little unsatisfying with the way it wraps. I think Dev showed some good traits though and will definitely check out whatever he does next. Shout out to Shantel Copley, he’s great as always!

This movie is already good on its own, but it becomes 10x better when you know what Patel went through to get it made.
The movie has already cemented itself as a classic of the vengeance subgenre, with echoes of Woo and Park Chan-wook, while bursting with enough originality for it to avoid feeling like a carbon copy.
It's a primal yell of a directorial debut from Dev Patel, already an underrated actor, who uses his unique experiences with religion and his own Indian heritage to bring the story of the film to life.
You can smell the blood and sweat wafting through the screen

Literally can't wrap my head around those saying this film is formulaic or been done a million times.

The careful, inclusive, radical political commentary with a collectivist message alone sets it apart in the genre; the creative, fresh, daring, deftly masterful cinematography, hypnotic soundtrack, snappy choreography, and impeccable sound design take it into a stratosphere all it's own.

Never before in my life have I been so utterly transported by and emotionally invested in an action flick, despite being a huge fan of the genre.

I am absolutely on the edge of my seat to see what Patel does next.

To boil this down to "Indian John Wick" feels reductive of what's being done here. Dev Patel's first directoral outing is an impressive, huge swing; a socially and politically-charged revenge flick, but there is an overbearing feeling of collapse under these lofty ideas that I just can't shake. There is a loss of cohesion when a tale of vengeance is spread this thin, and while everything is a feast for the eyes and ears (god the soundtrack is so GOOD!) you can feel Patel's struggle to keep all his ducks in a row as the narrative chews and chews the fat. Some impressive highs, but they're extinguished by continous lows in the pace and plot that I can't look past. Excited for the future, I hope Dev continues down this path.

Dev Patel tries hard and it's okay for a first movie as a director, but unfortunately not much more than that. The story is very predictable and banal, we've seen it a million times in other movies.
The actions scenes are decent, but there is just 15 minutes of them or so in the whole movie, 5 minutes in the beginning and 10 at the end. The rest of the movie is an endless boring moaning with sad eyes, almost two hours of it.
And his teeth are way too white and shiny for the guy from the slums, who eats from garbage cans.

This film was an important view of what it looks like to stand up to murderous fascism, those who use their outsized power to put their boots on the throats of those they oppress.

That shit went hard, damn.
I don't think I've seen anything like that since The Raid movies? While it's not all on THAT level, nothing really ever came close. And first time (full movie) director Dev Patel? Mad props yo.

There are parts of this movie that don't work for me. But when it goes hard, it goes so relentlessly hard.

(Childhood trauma really is a bitch)

Dev Patel really said I'm gonna outdo the bathroom fight scene (MI:6) and the kitchen fight scene (Tenet) and the elevator fight scene (Winter Soldier) while also addressing social and political themes and call it "Monkey Man"

It's a by the numbers action flick, but the story told to reach each of those numbers was unique enough to keep things interesting.

The opening stanza of the story drags on for way too long. But once they move on from that the movie picks up a LOT.

In the main / climactic stanza, the fight scenes really do step it up. The action, choreography, cinematography is all pretty damned amazing. It makes this one heck of an action movie. Left me quite happy.

Like an over-caffeinated kangaroo on a trampoline, Monkey Man is jumpy.

The story of a poor boy from a lower caste in India who grows up to be John Wick jumps around in time, antagonists, and movement, as much of the it is filmed with a hand-cam.

While the movie isn't as arty as it claims (it is, after all, just an nth incarnation of John Wick) the frequent action scenes, the wonderful cinematography, and the strong directorial presence (Dev Patel helms his first feature) mean that Monkey Man is a solid film that delivers.

Why do these people think they are making a Terence Malick film? Just stick with the action.

Pretty disappointing. The action was great, but there was far too much time in between action scenes for my liking. Still, a promising start for Dev Patel's directing career and I hope that his next film will alleviate some of my pacing concerns.

At its center, Monkey Man is the same revenge story we've seen dozens of times. Dev Patel attempts to mask its unoriginality with South Asian folklore, dizzying camera work, and strange music choices. There are moments that it works, but in the end, I celebrated the arrival of the closing credits more than I did the main character's final victory.

Monkey Man was a decent directorial debut. I went into it expecting a standard revenge thriller that has become so popular in the wake of John Wick, but I think it has a bit more depth to it than that. A bit. It sort of indirectly tries to tackle more complex sociopolitical criticisms, but it doesn't really do so head-on, making it feel a bit tacked on. The cinematography is at times really stylish and striking, and at other times, devolves a bit into shaky cameras and quick edits that feel chaotic during action sequences. Dev Patel is a star, but this isn't necessarily the best showcase of his acting. I think, for a debut, it's still surprisingly strong, and I prefer this to something like John Wick because it does attempt to at least give the character more depth. Though it does drag a bit in the first half, specifically near the middle. The second half is much stronger. I think the movie is at its best when it is setting the scene with some beautiful non-action cinematography.

Slightly too long, but pretty much every other element of 'Monkey Man' is more than enough to compensate.

I had a very good time watching what is Dev Patel's directorial debut. He himself is outstanding, having portrayed the role of the titular character perfectly. I had only seen the guy in two films ('Slumdog Millionaire' & 'The Last Airbender') prior to this, so very much happy to see him act further. An excellent job from him on and off screen, I'm happy that he managed to get this made in the end.

As noted, I do think the run time could've been trimmed a little. It's not a major issue of mine, at all, but at a few moments I did feel my interest wane a bit. The story itself is a good one though, one that is entwined with a lot of fight (literally) but a lot of feeling too. Visually, it's a beauty. As for those behind Patel, Pitobash and Vipin Sharma are positives; Ashwini Kalsekar does well too.

Most definitely worth a watch, especially on the big screen! I enjoyed myself, all in all.

The action scenes and fights, well, the rest is not bad, but it is not necessary to show the same memory several times. The Indian John Wick, sometimes yes, although more like the raid.