Director: Dev Patel
Writers: Dev Patel, Paul Angunawela, John Collee
Cast: Dev Patel, Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Sikander Kher, Makrand Deshpande, Sobhita Dhulipala, Ashwini Kalsekar, Vipin Sharma, Adithi Kalkunte, Jatin Malik

One-man-army, lone-wolf, often vengeful male characters in action films are ten-a-penny, from Jacks both Ryan and Reacher to Bryan Mills (Taken), classic James Bond to modern John Wick, Jason Bourne to pretty much any Jason Statham-led movie, there are many men with a bone to break pick. But many of these men have striking similarities, mostly that they are white western men with white western values, for the most part, some personal, some political. Monkey Man, while still being in the ‘one-man-army’ grouping, takes the Hollywood trope and transplants it to India, giving the ‘genre’, if you will, a new set of values to fight for. Does it succeed in breathing some new life into something we see a lot of, or does it drown in a pool of self-spilled blood?

A young boy known only as ‘Kid’ (Malik) experiences the trauma of seeing his mother (Kalkunte) killed, and then watches as his village in India is burned to evict the villagers and is taken over by a spiritual guru named Baba Shakti (Deshpande), who cited the land as ‘holy’. As an adult with a couple of aliases, namely ‘Bobby’ or ‘Monkey Man’, Kid (Patel) fights in an underground boxing club to make money from fights he is intended to lose. Eventually he devises a plan to exact revenge on those who took away his mother and his home, finding help from marginalised people along the way who are also victims of the wealthy and the corrupt, provoking his wrath further and aiding his thirst for vengeance.

There are certainly a lot of layers to Monkey Man, and it’s much more thematic than many of its action movie counterparts. Being set in India, Patel ensured that his anonymous lead character was fighting for more than his own interests in order to bring to the fore the sociopolitical, economical and equality issues that India suffers from. It’s an idealistic way to frame a film, however it does then contain a lot of attributes of ‘wishful thinking’; being able to take revenge is something many people dream of, but it doesn’t actually solve anything. The character of Kid becomes a John Wick-type by the third act, albeit in a less believable way, cycling through knives, guns, roundhouse kicks and uppercuts to get to the object of his fury. But his ultimate goal seems MacGuffin-esque for the story that is told along the way, a story that weaves a thread of mythology within it in order to ground it. Taking out one or one hundred people who have done you wrong is one thing but getting to the root of the problem in order to make a significant difference, striking from the inside out rather than outside in, is a different concept entirely. The film is stylistically captivating and thematically interesting, but plot-wise it’s missing a thing or two that could have made it stronger.

There’s a lot to be pleased with aesthetically in Monkey Man, and if you are a fan of the aforementioned other ‘action men’ and their ilk, then you will likely enjoy what it has to offer. The editing is a little too abrupt at points as it tries to emulate action sequences from other films and plays around with different camera angles, styles, and lenses, but it does well to provide good pacing when building the action. The settings are diverse enough to hold the audience’s attention, and it feels quite striking to flit between the modernisation of India’s cities and the more indigenous rural areas and temples, as well as making a point of the clear divide between the rich and the poor. As the action increases, as does the combat choreography. It’s not as refined as the fighting you might see in the likes of John Wick or Mission: Impossible, which is sensible considering Kid’s experience, but it still has its eye-catching and squeamish moments. Having said that, when Kid eventually becomes the ‘assassin’ he trains himself to be, his level of skill and agility are not as believable as it would have been had he taken years to train rather than mere weeks of mostly hitting a rice-filled punching bag. It resorts back to the ‘wishful thinking’ that this film contains a lot of.

Patel’s performance is what makes this film what it is. Having seen Patel grow as an actor since his debut in the TV show Skins, it’s clear to see that he has become quite the versatile actor capable of conveying more complex characters and leading a movie. He owns his scenes and keeps us emotionally invested in Kid. Kher and Deshpande each play villains that are nothing more than that, with nothing redeemable about them whatsoever. The depth of their performances spur us on even more to invest in Kid. Pitobash adds a little enjoyable comedic relief now and again, something that is necessary when dealing with such heavy subject matter, and Dhulipala provides the romantic interest that only goes as far as it needs to in order to drive Kid. Sharma’s hijra character provides more motivation for Kid, but also gives the film more emotional impact. The most emotional performances come from Kalkunte and Malik as Kid’s mother and the younger Kid respectively, helping the audience to somewhat understand adult Kid’s point of view and reasoning.

As Patel’s directorial and feature-length writing debut, he has made something interesting and sturdy in Monkey Man, even if it leaves a little to be desired plot-wise (quick shout-out to the soundtrack too, the music was quite well attuned to the action). He shows a strong aptitude for character, and there is potential for his stories to become more well-rounded and meaningful as he grows as a writer. It’s a dynamic action film that has a lot of heart and can stand quite proudly amongst its action counterparts. Monkey Man is a top-notch debut, and I look forward to seeing what Patel creates next.