Dev Patel punches, kicks and tears his way through bad guys in a long, but not too clever, action movie. Monkey Man is an extremely painful bone-breaking film which lasts for ages and employs Hindu themes. It has been described as John Wick set in India without guns – only with more foot breaking ass kicking by Patel. He gives a powerful punch to the gut with his first feature directing effort but also over does it with the good intentions. Too many flashbacks and overly dramatic close-ups between savage beatdowns test your patience.
A man, later labeled Bobby (Patel) as an insult, fights in a dirty cage match wearing a monkey mask. He is outmatched by a better fighter. The crowd hurls bottles and spits at him as he slinks out of the ring covered in blood. But Bobby is used to getting paid to get beaten up. The greedy promoter Tiger (Sharlto Copley) only pays him half because he didn’t put on enough of a show; they want more pain than that. You can always bleed a little more.
Bobby has a fleeting memory of his lost childhood with his mother (Adithi Kalkunte). She holds his hands as they walk through the jungle. He’s fascinated by her stories about Hanuman, the monkey god who was punished for not knowing his place. These visions haunt Bobby throughout life’s relentless mission: avenging her death no matter what.
Mumbai is preparing for elections ahead of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, when all hell breaks loose in this city teetering on the edge of chaos to begin with. Religious leader Baba Shakti (Makarand Deshpande) plays humble while about to take political power; his loyal acolyte and powerful police chief Rana Singh (Sikandar Kher) are never far from each other’s side; Bobby has been carefully watching Rana’s sister, the detestable Queenie Kapoor (Ashwini Kalsekar), and has finally connived his way into striking range.
Monkey Man seethes with anger at the Indian class system. The rich have everything while the poor fight for survival on scraps. Luxury cars drive past rows of dirty orphans sleeping in the street. Mothers cling to infants as they beg and steal to feed their empty stomachs. They are invisible in a city that has deemed them worthless. Bobby turns this unseen army into spies who become key pawns in his bloody game. The trans community also comes under attack by Patel, who shines a light on those who were forgotten, overlooked and trodden upon. His brutal violence carries a clear message.
Patel uses handheld cameras to capture the bustling poverty of everyday life; seen through kids’ eyes at low angles that dart through traffic jarringly – meant to make you uncomfortable. This technique is carried over into flashback sequences where the mother figure looms large over the boy as an authoritative presence trustingly followed always focused on her eyes, smile and gentle touch – innocence before it’s broken, vengeance born in its wake; Steadicam overheads and long tracking shots during the vicious climax indicate murderous intent single-mindedly pursued – there is no one he does not want dead.
The blended visual approach of the Monkey Man film has mixed results. There are successes and failures with key editorial decisions in Patel’s directorial debut. Everything seems like it’s given equal importance, so it can’t be cut, and that means every part of the script gets an equal amount of time on screen. But this doesn’t work when the flashback sequences start affecting pacing.
What happens to the mother is pretty obvious by act one, but they keep slow-revealing her fate throughout the whole story which just drags everything down. Unfortunately, this results in a lot of maudlin sentimentality on Patel’s part – something that many first-time filmmakers fall prey to. However, he does capture well enough the hedonism and villainy of these despicable antagonists whom Bobby serves as a fly-on-the-wall for Queenie’s illegal dealings and Ashwini Kalsekar nearly steals show from machismo-dripping tough guys.
Monkey Man does what it sets out to do; the action scenes are absolutely brutal here. A gritty and powerfully physical performance turns this superb dramatic actor into a full-blown action star for Patel who still remains my favorite character thus far. Bobby isn’t bad ass right from jump – his willingness to take beating after beating though releases beast inside him because none can stop or touch him while going through henchmen like tissue paper confetti & you already know how many times have seen that kind thing before but talk about repetitive Also, there is hardly any gunplay in the film save for some throat slitting arm-breaking eye-gouging moments which may seem excessive but really fit Bobby’s motives considering they didn’t have mercy on innocent people so why should he show any?
