Monkey Man
(2024)

Monkey Man 🙉

After years of delays, distribution issues, and injuries, Dev Patel’s Monkey Man, which premiered earlier this year at SXSW, has finally made its way to theatres.

This is Dev’s directorial debut, in a story he co-wrote with Paul Angunawela and Oscar-nominated John Collee, which all came together with the helping hand of Jordan Peele (Get Out, Nope), who was one of the major players in getting the film produced.

The story follows Kid, played by Dev Patel himself (Slumdog Millionaire, Green Knight), as he plots his path for revenge against an Indian crime syndicate that has been taking advantage of the less fortunate and who were also instrumental in the brutal death of his mother. 

Bad people getting a healthy dose of karma through a heavy-handed and bloody asskicking will never not be enjoyable.

People have been describing this as being an “Indian John Wick,” which is accurate, but what separates this creatively is the unique lens placed on the different sects of people in India and the glaring cultural dichotomy that continues to exist.

The way the action is delivered is savage and really captures the primal bloodlust Kid has, in what’s meant to parallel the Hindu mythological deity Hanuman, which is where the Monkey Man part of the movie derives from.

As action-heavy as this movie is, the genius of it comes in the form of having the backdrop to the fist fights, stabbing, and shootings be the double standards and hypocrisy of the culture on a political and religious level, which strays away from the romanticized ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ version of India that’s normally portrayed in the west.

The core of this story continues a popular action trope of the last decade, which is following what feels like an isolated man vs. the world; in this case, it’s a man scorned to the point he seeks nothing but revenge, even at the cost of his own peace.

It's a solid watch that runs a little longer than it probably needed to, but it’s something I’d still recommend to those action fans who are looking for that John Wick fix.

Monkey Man is a vicious, blood-soaked revenge story that really hones in on the cultural cross-section between the population that is forced into being subservient to the upper class - and the corrupt politics that plague India to its religious core.  

Enjoy!

7.5/10 🍿 🎥

Runtime: 1hr59mins
Where: Now Playing In Theatres.

Monkey Man (2024) The Richmond Reviewer -  April 6th, 2024.

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