That Dev Patel’s Monkey Man— not only the actor’s directorial debut, but his brainchild, having also conceived the story, co-written the screenplay, and produced it in addition to starring in it— would be compared to the John Wick series was inevitable, even if all they share in common is their centering on a lone man seeking revenge against a system that hurt his family, with a healthy dose of R-rated action-violence on the side. But it’s a comparison that Patel seems to have anticipated, clearing the air early on with a scene set in the headquarters of an underground arms dealer. Patel’s character (alternately known as Kid in flashbacks of him as a child, Bobby as the name he adopts on the fly, and Monkey Man as his alias when he’s fighting in illegal boxing matches, his face concealed by a grotesque monkey mask) has just finagled his way into a menial kitchen job at a high-class establishment run by Queenie Kapoor (Ashwini Kalsekar), who provides fine dining, drinks, drugs, and prostitutes to wealthy clients. But Bobby hasn’t taken this job for the money. He’s trying to get to Rana Singh (Sikandar Kher), the corrupt police chief of his hometown who killed his mother in an attack on their village. Naturally, he needs a weapon, and the arms dealer takes a handgun off the wall, saying, “You like John Wick? Same gun, only made in China.”
That line provides a brief moment of self-awareness and levity to a film in which there is little of the latter, but Bobby’s response is even more telling: he declines John Wick’s gun, because he wants something smaller. It’s a moment that speaks not only to the clandestine nature of his plan, but to his nature as a person. Bobby is not a trained assassin; he’s just a scrappy amateur fighter. He enters each conflict with determination, but not necessarily confidence. Patel (who shot to fame playing a likable underdog in the 2008 Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire) strips his natural charm and charisma way back here in favor of a more introspective performance. He’s vulnerable, and while his first attempt at killing a man results in an almost-fatal hesitation, each subsequent time the fear and shock of his own actions is written all across his face.
Monkey Man is both lean and complex. Those searching for a straight-up action thriller will not be disappointed, as lengthy, brutal fights and gory kills committed with unexpected objects (a high-heeled shoe, a firecracker, a serving dish) arrive more frequently than exposition, with the reason behind Bobby’s investment in this quest being delivered in slivers through gradual flashbacks. The background of the film alone, however, lends it a more intriguing color than it may have possessed otherwise; so many action films made in Hollywood travel the globe, but with little interest or focus on the culture of those locations beyond serving an aesthetic purpose as exotic backdrops. Set in India on the brink of an election, Monkey Man gestures toward the effects of the country’s inhumane caste system— among the group of outcasts who aid Bobby in his journey are Sita (Sobhita Dhulipala), an escort employed by Queenie and abused by her and her clients, and a community of mostly transgender individuals living on the fringes— and the corruption that runs rampant among those who are situated in the most privileged, from law enforcement to spiritual leaders to politicians, who don’t pause to take advantage of those less fortunate to lift their own status. I saw “gestures toward” because while these big picture problems are perpetually swirling around Monkey Man’s primary conflict— indeed, they are the driving force behind it— they’re still a little too slippery and lacking in specificity to serve as potent political commentary. It’s not wholly ineffective, however; clearly, there was enough present on screen to rile Netflix’s (the film’s original distributor) feathers, prompting them to quietly sell the worldwide rights they had purchased after production completed out of fear of Indian viewers’ response. And whether or not Monkey Man, which currently scheduled to be released theatrically in India later in April, will be censored by the country’s Central Board of Film Certification, is up in the air.
Monkey Man is as exciting to look at as it is to contemplate, with Patel showing immense promise and clear vision as a filmmaker with only his first movie. There’s a lot of style on display here, perhaps a bit too much; there’s a sense that Patel is trying out a lot of different things with the camera and blocking and seeing what works. That isn’t really a bad thing, however. There’s a kinetic energy coursing through the film’s veins that doesn’t stop the moment it starts, and its genuinely thrilling to see the camera sometimes moving with the characters (spinning as they do, or taking out their disoriented perspective, rendering their surroundings just out of focus), or the quick edits and visceral close-ups of bloody and bruised faces that are interspersed just right with long takes and long shots of fight scenes where the physicality of the actors is on full display. And the spaces that those scenes move through are just as thrillingly conceived, from extravagant, neon-lit lounges with pulsing music to a grimy brothel, where clusters of people having sex in every corner scatter as soon as Bobby barrels in, to the boxing ring where he fights as Monkey Man, the odds stacked against him by the ring’s vulgar, dirty host (played by Sharlto Copley). There’s some great surreal imagery too, manifested through the film’s incorporation of India’s religious deities. Throughout, Bobby is equated with Hanuman (stories of whom he was told as a child), whose numerous attributes include serving as a symbol of defiance against oppression. That sort of rich symbolism may be hard to come by in Monkey Man beyond that, but it’s more than enough to lend the film some weight and distinguish it from its contemporaries, to the point where the near-instant insistence from many people to refer to it as “Indian John Wick” is not only demeaning; it’s a disservice to the world Patel has crafted, and the skills he displays both in front of and behind the camera.
Monkey Man is now playing in theaters. Runtime: 121 minutes. Rated R.
Katie at the Movies 