>*"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.