Monkey Man
As a young child, Kid’s (Dev Patel) beloved mother Neela (Adithi Kalkunte, "Hotel Mumbai") would tell him the legend of Hanuman, a Hindu monkey deity emblematic of defiance against oppression. It is during a puppet performance featuring Hanuman that a corrupt spiritual leader and politician send in Chief of Police Rana Singh (Sikandar Kher) to clear the land of its people and, while trying to protect her home and her son, Neela is brutally murdered by Singh. Determined to get revenge, the now adult kid begins to finance his plan with money earned in an underground fight club where he dons the mask of “Monkey Man.”
Laura's Review: B+
Cowriter (with Paul Angunawela and 'Hotel Mumbai's" John Collee)/director/star Dev Patel makes an audacious, stylish debut by turning himself into the Indian John Wick and if you think the slender actor wouldn’t be a credible action star, think again. Patel’s filmography almost charts his path to his first film, combining his hardscrabble life as a “Slumdog” with increasingly fraught experiences working in Indian hotels, first dealing with elderly traumas in “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” then evading terrorists in “Hotel Mumbai” before being called one himself when he dares to take revenge against the corruption lodged within King’s Club.
Production designer Pawas Sawatchaiyamet ("Last Life in the Universe") creates a close, sweaty environment for the club where Monkey Man gets beaten down by fight emcee Tiger’s ("Chappie’s" Sharlto Copley) favored King Cobra. Out amidst crowded city food stalls, Kid pays a street urchin for a phone with video of Queenie Kapoor (Ashwini Kalsekar). ‘That’s who you want,’ the kid tells Kid. What follows may be the film’s truest flight of fancy, an engineered theft of Queenie’s wallet as she sits outdoors which is relayed across multiple hands across the city and back to Kid, who uses it as his calling card to get a job from the King’s Club manager.
Once ensconced in the elite club’s kitchen, Kid cozies up to Alphonso (Pitobash, "Million Dollar Arm"), a hustler who sells drugs to its clientele, puts him in touch with a gun dealer and gets him access to the private areas where Queenie provides women as entertainment. ‘Welcome to Heaven,” Alphonso smiles as he ushers Kid in, but Kid is distraught observing a client manhandling a beautiful young woman (Sobhita Dhulipala, TV's 'The Night Manager') with a bird tattoo.
When he’s not providing drone shots of the fictional modern city, cinematographer Sharone Meir ("Whiplash") keeps close to the action which three editors cut into shots often lasting as little as one second. Patel uses these quick cuts not only to give the film its frenetic pace, but to provide flashes of what motivates him and it isn’t until the film’s last act that all these pieces will fall into place. The fight choreography is grueling and our hero is far from invincible, his first attempt to take out Rana by getting him into the men’s room with tainted cocaine a knock-down, drag-out affair that sees Kid trying – and failing – to burst through a glass window, then fleeing with Alphonso on the hustler’s tuk-tuk with cops in pursuit on foot, in cars and in helicopters. He’ll eventually be shot and fall into a river.
The film’s second act begins when he awakens, having been saved by a hijra community, trans women living within a temple. Alpha (Vipin Sharma, "Hotel Mumbai") encourages him to find his destiny and, with the help of musical accompaniment, Kid not only begins to train, but urges the hijra to join him in his rebellion, which will occur on the eve of elections with both Rana and the duplicitous Baba Shakti (Makarand Deshpande) present in the King’s Club as the city celebrates Diwali.
Patel, all ropey, sinewy muscle, incurred all sorts of injuries during the making of this film, dedication we can see on the screen. He tips his hat to “John Wick” by befriending a stray pup outside King’s kitchen, “The Raid” with his multi-storied ascent towards Baba Shakti’s penthouse and Wick again with artsy reflections caught in mirrored panels. Meir emphasizes his silhouette and profile whether standing upon a bar, illuminated shelves behind him, or in shadow in a doorway. Indian mythology and history is visually represented in temple statues and Shiva’s tree, Shakti’s penthouse housing a red-hued mural. Jed Kurzel ("The Babadook," "Nitram") doesn’t make any obvious choices with his music, one of the film’s craziest fight scenes scored with a romantic string instrument, not a sitar, perhaps a mandolin? And this violent revenge thriller has a spiritual heart, represented not only by the hijra but the memory of Neela which closes out the film.
“Monkey Man” is not only a complete reinvention for Patel, but the type of debut that leaves you wanting more. The actor has become an exciting filmmaker.
Universal releases "Monkey Man" in theaters on 4/5/24.
