Film Review — Monkey Man
Dev Patel makes his directorial debut with a brutally violent, politically potent action thriller
Monkey Man is pretty much the Dev Patel show. He has actor, producer, story, and director credits, and I suspect he also did the on-set catering. With that sort of dedication, he’s clearly hoping for critics to include phrases like “labour of love” in their reviews, especially as he says this film was a gargantuan struggle, to fund, make, and distribute. It’s thanks to co-producer Jordan Peele that Monkey Man has a well-deserved cinema release rather than straight-to-streaming ignominy. Netflix apparently got cold feet over the film and Peele stepped in, ensuring a sale to Universal and a wide release.
Netflix initially pitched this as “John Wick in Mumbai”, but this takes its time to set up the plot and characters before the skull-crunching violence and gore really kicks in. Patel’s protagonist — invariably called “Kid”, “Bobby” (a false name), and “Monkey Man” — is initially introduced in a brutal underground boxing/kickboxing club run by Tiger (Sharlto Copley — always great value). Here, he scratches a bloody living wearing a monkey mask and taking falls in rigged matches, but at the same time, he’s a man after revenge.
