Monkey Man

The 2024 action thriller, Monkey Man, got a lot of attention when the trailer dropped, but it was almost never seen in theatres. Being a mostly independent project that Dev Patel starred in, wrote and directed (being his first directorial job), the film was originally going straight to Netflix, but was spared this fate once the company felt it was too controversial and decided to sell, leading to it being purchased by Jordan Peele, who decided to produce the film with help from his production company, Monkeypaw Productions, distribute it globally after making a deal with Universal, and allow it the chance to survive in the theatrical ring. With glowing reviews and earning $35 million on $10 million budget, this gamble seemed to work out for all involved, but how is this movie being viewed two years after the initial hype.

In the squalid streets of India, an anonymous young man who goes by the name of Kid (played by Dev Patel) makes a pitiful living as the punching bag for several wrestlers in an underground fight club. His true goal, however, is to track down Rana Singh (played by Sikander Kher), the chief of police of the city of Yatana, who was responsible for attacking his village as a child and murdering his mother, Neela (played by Adithi Kalkunte). Vowing revenge and learning that Singh did all of his actions under the duty of popular political candidate, Baba Shakti (played by Makarand Deshpande), Kid will unleash his long-brewing trauma against his foes in order to exact gruesome vengeance.

Monkey Man operates at a perfectly functional level, but as an overall project, it needed much stronger components to really match the hype that was built around it. While the performances are strong and it has a few nice visuals, the uneven direction, unhelpful script, wonky fight scenes and done-before narrative hold it back quite a bit.

Originally being positioned as ‘’John Wick in Mumbai’’, Monkey Man did at first feel like it was going to match that vibe from the trailers, which presented something action-packed, high-octane and featuring just enough of a mainstream sense of humor alongside its grizzlier presentation and Indian roots to result in something fresh (it even had John Wick producer, Basil Iwanyk attached, so they knew what they were doing). However, it quickly becomes apparent when watching that this comparison is quite false, and it wasn’t going to feel the least bit original or distinct. Considering the film only had $10 million dollars to work with, and Patel has command over a lot of critical filmmaking positions, it means that not only is Monkey Man going to be relatively risk-averse and minute when it comes to its creative decisions, but also that people are stuck in roles that don’t fit them, mainly Patel as the director.

While he wasn’t originally going to be the director (it was originally going to be Neil Blomkamp before he suggested Patel do it himself), the final decision has led to the film looking a little unpolished due to the clear inexperience felt behind the camera. Certain camera tricks feel a little off, the story itself (which he created) is very predictable and laid out in a manner that seems counterproductive and even unnecessary given the kind of narrative it’s presenting (there’s no surprises so holding back the obvious ‘’twist’’ seems ridiculous and time-consuming), the tone seems to bounce back and forth between incredibly harsh and real to familiarly exaggerated and like a traditional action flick without ever really picking a lane, the characters aren’t the most engaging or properly realized, and while he deserves credit for at least adopting a stylish look and trying to bring a dynamic flair to the picture as most actor-directors feel like they glide through the process with the bare minimum, it isn’t enough to make it fully work.

The screenplay handled by Patel, Paul Angunawela and John Collee is weirdly complicated for such a simple premise, and the inclusion of real-world issues like corruption within portions of Indian society are appreciated but not done in a manner that would allow for meaningful reflection on the audience’s part. The film is oddly unpleasant in many ways, with the dim sweaty lighting, dirty characters (in more than just a physical sense), cruel subject matters and an overall grimy and independent aesthetic, and this mindset doesn’t match with the action film it built itself up as, which can be thoughtful and intense, but usually provide a cathartic pay-off and an engaging vibe, which this film has none of. The set-up isn’t new or engaging, the characters aren’t written well, the dialogue is worded in a way that makes it hard to follow or even want to care about, and in spite of meaning well and wanting to be more than just a mindless beat-em-up flick, it doesn’t have the mindset or understanding to discuss these topics in a way that feels right in this atmosphere.

With a cast of mostly unknowns to those in the west opposed to Dev Patel, this was a chance to allow fresh talent to show off their capabilities, and from a purely acting standpoint, some do manage that. Most of these Indian actors are pretty good and can deliver the dramatic and even the light-hearted stuff very naturally. As previously stated, the characters aren’t written the best and it does get in the way of how the audience views them, but these people are clearly talented, and it would be great to see them in future projects later down the line. Dev Patel is clearly the main grab for this movie (whether its him as the lead in an action film, or even as a curiosity to how he does as a writer-director), and while his acting is still pretty solid as expected, the character he plays is not the best handled. Since the role is so bare bones and sent down such a familiar path of ‘’revenge against those who wronged him’’, there’s already not a lot to work with, but the character’s one defining trait of pure anger is so viciously portrayed without that much internal context that it makes him fairly unlikeable to be around. Even though his actions are at least understandable given the narrative crux, the lack of insight into who he is outside of forceful exposition and blatantly obvious visual cues, means he’s that bad combination of boring and irritating.

The end results aren’t satisfying, he doesn’t really have anything else to him outside of this one goal and this component isn’t even acknowledge in the picture (if anything, it’s praised), and for a movie that is trying to be a little more complicated, you can’t have a lead this cut-and-dry. The supporting cast are a little more interesting, but they too are fairly underwritten. Sharlto Copley and Pitobash seem to have big personalities that would make them eye-catching talent, but they feel pretty cartoonish for a world that is supposed to be so serious, Vipin Sharma, Sobhita Dhulipala and Ashwini Kalsekar have good starts to their characters, but they become quickly redundant once the film gets going, and Sikander Kher and Makarand Deshpande actually seem like they would be pretty good bad guys and could play a role that is deceptively charming while hiding a cruel bitter centre, but they aren’t given any time to develop character or personality, and are just threats to be taken out.

For an action film in this day and age, fight scenes are crucial to get right, especially since it has been compared to what many consider one of the greatest examples of the genre in modern day. The difference in tone already makes the comparison a little off, but it could still come together if the fight scenes were very impressive and match the energy presented in the trailers, which sadly they do not. The trailers were clearly positioned very well and knew what stuff to focus on, as what they showed were the only fights that are in any way memorable or well framed, with the rest being either too uneventful and bland to be memorable, or too awkwardly filmed and terribly edited to really work. The cinematography by Sharone Meir on occasion is fairly nice and results in some nice cinematic shots that add to the stylish vibe the film is going for, but the rest has odd angles, poor positioning, and an overall low-budget feel that just doesn’t show off these locations in a nice light.

The production design by Pawas Sawtchaiyamet isn’t the best even if it does create a harsh atmosphere; the sets are cramped, the lighting is often glaring and lifeless, the characters are dripping with sweat and blood that is often heightened by the sound design, and on occasion the cramped and off-kilter angles can add to this (mainly in the wrestling space where it should be a little too intimate), but for the most part, it just feels a little sloppy. The editing by Joe Galdo, Tim Murrell, and Dávid Jancsó is too rapid and quick to pick anything up, and the frequent motion and swooping of the shoots can make it extra hard to follow. Sometimes the costume design by Divvya and Nidhi Gambhir as well as the music by Jed Kurzel injects a cultural quality that helps it feel a little more interesting, but it’s not enough to really bring a unique spark to the picture.

For the amount of build-up surrounding it, Monkey Man sadly just feel like a streaming movie that was given a chance that it didn’t really deserve. It’s nice that it worked for some critics and audience members, but for something that was given a high pedestal to stand on, it doesn’t feel like it can stay balanced on top for long. For those that aren’t looking for anything deep or that different from the norm, you may get into this film fine, but the film’s insistence on being more than that will prevent an escapist fantasy like what John Wick is (it’s a little hard to jump from a woman being brutalized by a man in front of her child, to shiva-dressed warrior temple dwellers fighting in a hotel suite). The acting is good, there is a nice visual every once and a while, and while the direction isn’t great, it would be interesting to see Dev Patel try again with a bit more experience to see what he could evolve into, but with poor characters, a bad script, generic narrative and messy cinematography and action sequences, it isn’t worthy of any worship.