Monkey Man is much smarter than a mindless revenge film, offering insightful class commentary alongside its kinetic, animalistic action. Monkey Man is showing in cinemas nationwide from April 5.
It’s hard not to admire Dev Patel’s perseverance with Monkey Man. Here’s a film he’s been crafting through writing, directing and acting since 2018. Not only was the project almost cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on the industry, but it was at one point doomed for a straight-to-streaming release via Netflix. That was until Jordan Peele saw the film and purchased it under Monkeypaw Productions, believing it deserved a theatrical release. Watching Monkey Man on a big screen, it’s easy to see what Peele saw in this taut, visceral and surprisingly thematic thriller.
We open with the story with an Indian fable about the monkey Hanuman. A Hindu deity who was once punished for mistaking the sun for a giant Mango, he is seen as an exemplar of conviction, discipline and commitment to a cause. It’s not difficult to see how this applies to the lead character, identified in the credits as Kid (Patel). When he was a child, he witnessed his mother’s vicious murder at the hands of a soldier trying to claim the land that they lived on for religious advancement. This trauma is carried by Kid mentally but also physically in the form of burn scars on his hands, which he got from that day.
Years later, Kid is a boxer in an underground fighting ring, where he disguises himself, appropriately enough given the Hanuman story, in a monkey mask. He often loses these fights, but it’s clear that he has a drive that the other competitors don’t. Using deceptive means, Kid finds himself working in a brothel where the city’s most powerful people meet. They also happen to be the exact people Kid is looking for in order to avenge his mother. Action and brutality ensue.
Monkey Man has been described as John Wick in Mumbai, and it’s not an inaccurate statement. Kid is building up his strength so that he may take down his foes when the time is right. The scenes in the ring utilise tight close-ups as if to capture the internal pressure Kid is placing himself under, pushing himself to get better for the challenges ahead. His time to answer the call arrives, and the cinematography and editing follow suit. A car crash scene was allegedly filmed using Patel’s iPhone when no other cameras were available—yet the final picture runs as smoothly as if it were filmed with just one camera.
Through close-ups, quick edits, and dynamic movements that flow alongside the action, the cinematography captures the visceral nature of the film’s grit. Every punch is felt, and every wound inflicted seems all the gorier. Particularly vivid is the film’s use of the colour red. It references both the colour palette of the Hanuman story and the vast quantities of blood spilt, visually inferring the parallels between this fable and the man currently dishing out vengeance, with or without a monkey mask.
Red is also the colour most commonly associated with Left-wing politics. This is fitting, as Monkey Man has a lot to say about corruption and the wealth gap. Kids’ targets are leadership figures, be it the head of police or the head of a religious body. Their other common denominator is how they use their power and wealth to enrich themselves while the lower classes get poorer and hungrier.
Similar to Hanuman being a symbol of commitment, this transforms Kid into a kind of saviour for the proletariat. His drive for vengeance suddenly becomes a stand-in for the masses’ anger as much as his own. Where violence is usually the first resort for authoritarians and the bourgeoisie, violence is the last resort for poor, oppressed groups who have exhausted all other avenues. As much as it’s a riveting action movie, Monkey Man is just as compelling as an examination of the inventiveness and perseverance of marginalised and working-class groups in the face of unjust class politics.
But even righteous violence can be tinged with a sense of loss, a void that can rarely be filled. As Kid builds muscle and confidence, his eyes hint at his own inner void. Even though this will bring him catharsis, it cannot atone for the suffering he has gone through. Those scars will physically and mentally be with him forever, just as poverty prolonged by the corruption and greed of the elite only exacerbates the wounds of the working class. Patel gives a terrific performance as a man fuelled by such fury, slowly but surely internalising his hurt to the point of no return.
The erratic editing certainly creates a sense of intensity, but it can backfire at times, too. At times, the fights can appear janky rather than fluid, with panning used as much to obscure the fighters waiting their turn as to capture the spectacle’s scale. Equally, the vast amount of players and pieces in the plot occasionally threatens to upend the pacing as we attempt to keep track of everyone and everything. But for a first-time effort from an actor turned director, this makes for an astute debut.
Dev Patel must have felt as if he’d gone the full ten rounds himself in trying to get this project off the ground, yet the end result was worth it. Monkey Man is much smarter than a mindless revenge film, offering insightful class commentary alongside its kinetic, animalistic action. While it isn’t always as seamless as modern action films with similar premises, be it the fan favourite John Wick or the criminally underseen Sisu, it demonstrates a confidence and a drive that match its brutal protagonist. If Patel chooses to direct more movies, it’ll be very exciting to see what he does next.
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