>*"If a man wishes to challenge the gods, he must become more than a man. He must become a beast."*

A commendable directional debut for Dev Patel, I can see the potencial, but ***Monkey Man*** is short of "good". It's very much an Indian version of *John Wick* with a strong inspiration from *The Raid* movies. Some intense action sequences that deserve praise but I expected a little more considering the aforementioned inspirations. It's short of a few more action sequences for me and the second act was so boring it slowed this down to the point where I wasn't enjoying it anymore. It killed all the tension established in the first act. Thankfully it picked back up in the third act but because the second act was so slow I expected an even bigger payoff in the third act which it didn't quite deliver but... almost.

I applaude the attempt at character development, it's a rare thing in these movies, but I think it should have been more sprinkled throughout the runtime instead of an entire second act. The folklore/cultural stuff was a nice touch but there's too much of it. Too much shaky cam during some fight scenes, it's hard to look at and follow everything that's going on. Very stylish movie all around, memorable visuals, love the neon lighting with the mirrors, intense editing (perhaps too intense) and I digged the musical choices BUT an overdose of that drum instrument. Overall ***Monkey Man*** was a decent watch but it's mainly held back by the second act.

It improves on the John Wick formula by taking itself way less seriously and not blue balling the viewer with too much schlocky worldbuilding. Patel’s directing is quite solid; I like how much of the character development is done visually, the visuals are always brewing with atmosphere and the final set piece is great. As a performer, I was completely sold on the physicality of it. He’s not afraid to turn the violence up to something that resembles _The Raid_, which I very much appreciate. Honestly I think you could have something great here if Patel overhauls his editing style next time around, because that aspect kneecaps this entire film for me. It’s like he wants to do something wild and bold, but overshoots in the process. Some of the early chase scenes are extremely overedited (the constant jump cuts and shaky cam don’t exactly help either), the pace loses all momentum during the boring second act, it’s got too many montages and flashbacks, he inserts real life footage to imply a layer of depth it never earns, the music choices are sometimes off; it’s a lot of bad choices piling onto each other. I also couldn’t really get into the villain, every time we cut back to that character we’re reminded of him being corrupt but there’s no real attempt at development. It’s just not a great film by any means, but I’d still love to see a sequel. Pulling a movie like this together as your debut feature is impressive, even with it being unrefined.


5/10

FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://talkingfilms.net/monkey-man-review-an-imperfect-yet-compelling-directorial-debut-from-dev-patel/

"Monkey Man shows that Dev Patel still has much to learn when it comes to directing and writing, but his unwavering commitment to a culturally and thematically rich story deserves countless praises.

A revenge arc with some pacing issues narrative-wise, but with action sequences loaded with energy and adrenaline, even when chaotically choreographed and shot. Predictably dedicated performance from Patel that avoids some genre formulas while paying homage to some of the classics that inspired him.

An imperfect yet compelling debut."

Rating: B

There's a recurrent metaphor throughout the film, of Hanuman trying to eat the sun leaping towards it Icarus-like and being stopped by the gods eventually. Maybe Dev Patel was aware of how well this metaphor would encapsulate his brave directorial debut too, all throughout the film he's trying to reach the narrative he wants to tell but he eventually pulls his own punches. Only if he knew his film would eventually not release in Indian theaters at all, howmuchever he restrains himself.

Don't get me wrong, this is a highly enjoyable film. But the commentary on the current Indian society and what is plaguing it and all the classist and casteist divides we have setup within ourselves -- all of that comes out a tad bit feeble and a bit too watered-down.

You can see Dev touching majorly on religious blind-faith intermingling with politics, but also offhandedly on caste and patriarchy too -- there's even a montage of real-life videos of a few of these evils thrown in for good measure -- but everything is a bit too sanitised and it doesn't jolt you. Not for a single moment did the film drown me in itself with these thoughts, always swimming on the surface. Water and fire are another recurrent tropes which occur throughout, another piece of foresight by Dev on how his fire would eventually be watered and we would just swim on the surface of it.

Having said that all out, I completely dig the film for its action and how it tries to mix Indian music and instruments throughout. **There's Zakir Hussain in it ffs, now THAT is what true cameos should be like, completely unexpected and swooping you in.** I've always liked Dev's performance and here he proves he's as good behind the camera as he is on it. It was great to see familiar Indian faces as well. There's also one homage to _Ghajini_ in there which I feel was a great nod.

One last piece of critique and then I would leave: the fictional cities and villages all feel lived-in and real, but at the same time a little bit Westernised too to be uniquely identified as Indian.

Dev Patel has spoken a lot about him not wanting to be "James Bond" but it looks like those stories have inspired quite a bit of this pretty derivative revenge thriller that actually reminded me a bit of his "Hotel Mumbai" (2018) outing too. We know that he ("Kid") routinely dons a monkey mask for some wrestling and he duly gets a pasting - but that this all has purpose. That purpose starts to come together when he manages to organise a subtle sting operation on "Queenie" (Ashwini Kalsekar) who runs an high-end gentleman's club. His reward here is a job. In the kitchens, bleaching the toilets and washing the pots. A means to an end though as he befriends the drug-pusher "Alphonso" (Pitobash) - who has a nifty, turbo-charged, tuk-tuk, and is soon elevated to the rank of waiter to the corrupt and profligate of city society who frequent the place. Interspersed with his burgeoning career, we begin to see flashbacks of his childhood - and of the brutality that reduced him to his present, vengeful, circumstances. The story is set against a backdrop of political turmoil and with an election looming, he becomes aware that there are wheels within wheels and that his principle antagonist is firmly amongst the secular and religious plotters. He also finds himself being cared for by a sagely monk "Alpha" (Vipin Sharma) who helps him to focus both his mind and his body as we build to a denouement that can be seen from space by anyone who's ever seen a "John Wick" film. Patel is a charismatic man but that's not what's needed here. That's something just a little more original to keep this over-long two hours from becoming just a bit dull and procedural. It's not terrible, but it's not really up to much either.