Monkey Man is an Ambitious and Deeply Entertaining Ride

 

Summer 2021 (when The Green Knight premiered) was the summer of Dev Patel, but now a new season has dawned for this Oscar-nominated leading man. Now Patel has emerged as a filmmaker while also flexing his chops as an action movie star with Monkey Man (a project he also co-wrote the screenplay for). Excitingly, Monkey Man is much closer in quality to This is Spinal Tap than Star Trek V: The Final Frontier in the pantheon of "directorial debuts from actors turned filmmakers". True, this action movie bites off more than it could chew narratively. But it also pulsates with such verve and ambition! When a movie delivers action this gnarly, I simply must approve of it.

At the start of Monkey Man, Kid (Patel) is working odd jobs in pursuit of vengeance. Though he's primarily making money fighting in the ring under the alias "Monkey Man", he's also started to work as a janitor at a nearby swanky hangout spot. It's in this domicile that the rich, the powerful, and the corrupt all revel in their vices of choice. It is also a go-to spot for relaxation for a man responsible for so much torment in Kid's life. Monkey Man follows Kid in his quest for violent revenge, which eventually entangles the deeply popular (and xenophobic) public figure Baba Shakti (Makarand Deshpande).

Infectious energy radiates through so much of Monkey Man. An early scene showing a stolen wallet traveling across many working-class hands establishes Patel's love for fast-paced editing and lively camerawork. This is a movie that's on the go, just as Kid is always calculating his next move. The propulsive nature of Monkey Man's beginning and ending doesn't just make this feature exciting to watch. It also lends real impact to a more laidback and introspective second act. This stretch of the story appropriately stands out by in contrast to the rest of the film tonally. That intentional disconnect allows Kid's journey of self-discovery to feel impactful. 

Spanning vibes from contemplative to Edgar Wright-levels of propulsiveness crystallizes how enjoyably expansive the script for Monkey Man is. This screenplay has ambitions as big as the night sky itself, which does result in some jagged narrative elements. Most notably, eventual main antagonist Baba Shakti, though played with a captivating aura by Deshpande, is a bit too disconnected from Kid to sometimes feel like a sufficient "final boss" for the movie. It's easy to see why Kid has beef with police chief Rana (Sikandar Kher) given his direct personal connection to that man. Shakti represents how the evil of Rana goes all the way to the top, a thoughtful move that reflects the systemic rot informing Kid's traumatic past. However, Patel's script (co-written by Paul Angunawela and John Collee) still keeps Kid and Shakti a bit too far apart for much of Monkey Man. No matter the thematic intent behind Shakti's presence in the story, it's still hard to make him feel like the prime action movie adversary for Kid when he has so little direct connection to this character.

The jankier elements of the screenplay (whose foibles also include a lack of pay-off for supporting players like Pitobash's Alphonso) are easier to digest thanks to Monkey Man's most successful screenwriting flourishes. For one thing, it's great to see a 2020s action movie unafraid to get its hands dirty in modern politics. The script is peppered with explicit references to the struggles of Muslims and trans Indians, which lends real tangibility to the "David vs. Goliath" elements of the narrative. I was also struck by a great throwaway line from a TV reporter noting that, in response to attacks on marginalized populations in India, outside countries "condemn" the behavior but won't take any lasting actions to stop it (like economically penalizing uncaring Indian politicians). After months of the US merely saying "no, stop that" to an ongoing genocide, it's great to see a big theatrical release like Monkey Man clearly agitated over countries like America leaping into action to bomb people but not protect the oppressed. 

Where Monkey Man really excels, though, is as a visual exercise. Save for some early instances of shaky-cam, the whole movie looks fantastic. I love that this is a grimy action film unafraid to show people biting noses or trails of gore, but also doesn't just drape everything in dim lighting and shades of grey. The villainous club Kid briefly works at as part of his revenge scheme is coated in bright neon lighting, with streaks of blue and pink dancing across the faces of the corrupt. Meanwhile, harsh yellow color grading dominates the underground boxing scenes to suggest how removed this domain is from reality. Creative uses of such vivid hues are accompanied by sublime editing from Dávid Jancsó and Tim Murrell that show such care in timing. An unforgettable scene where Kid lashes out at a punching bag while a nearby onlooker bangs away on his drums especially makes outstanding use of tightly arranged cuts. Every cut to a new shot contributes to a mounting sense of energy, rather than a dilution of the scene's atmosphere.

Then there's the most important of Monkey Man: those action sequences. In his inaugural directorial effort, Patel shows an impressive command for realizing scrappy hand-to-hand skirmishes. It's always clear who is fighting who, things don't just devolve into visual incoherence to emphasize "intensity". Best of all, he's quite creative in figuring out how Kid can turn the objects around him (from fire extinguishers to a tank of fish to kitchen utensils) into deadly weapons. Needless to say, I had a big sloppy grin on my face throughout these fight sequences and so much else of Monkey Man (including its shockingly delightful trans representation). May there be so many more seasons of Director Dev Patel in our future.