IronWatcher’s review published on Letterboxd:
Watched in the cinema (50th visit in 2024)
Dev Patel has not only fought his way up on the big screen: anyone who remembers him as a lively half-series boy in the British series "Skins" will be quite surprised when they watch his debut in the director's chair "Monkey Man". Unlike his fellow actors, who are now trying their hand at directing and reinventing themselves, Patel seems less interested in prestige laurels or vying for awards glory, but instead dares to reinvent the action genre with a monkey mask and swinging fists: As Patel himself put it, contemporary action cinema was in crisis and he wanted to give it back "soul, real trauma, real pain". These lofty ambitions are laudable and even if they seem a little lofty for a first film, one can understand his zeal on the big screen, that is, at least when he submits to the ironclad principle of moving bodies around the screen. Beyond that, "Monkey Man" remains a complex of genre references, socio-cultural references and, above all, too much idling, blessed with monkey speed but desperately searching for its own identity.
Inspired by the Hindu legend Hanuman, to whom numerous flashbacks always refer, we meet Kid (Patel himself), who, wearing a monkey mask, gets himself beaten up for money in the underground slums of Mumbai and one day has had enough. He sets himself the goal of taking revenge for his mother's murder and the repression of his native people, trains himself a body of steel and infiltrates the environment of corrupt police officer Rana (Sikander Kher, Game), the man responsible for Kid's suffering. Thus begins a hard-hitting vendetta in the spirit of Patel's apparent role model John Wick. It would be more than unfair to compare Patel's directorial debut with the Wick franchise, but unfortunately the film provokes this comparison by actually name-dropping the legendary avenger and by relocating the first action scene to a luxurious nightclub. Here, "Monkey Man" scores points with its wonderfully exaggerated, uncontrolled action with numerous hand-to-hand combat interludes, the likes of which have only been seen in their uninhibitedness in David Fincher's brawl sequence in The Killer. For a while, after the action has finally been reduced to a car chase on the streets of Mumbai, it almost seems as if it takes up the entire rest of the movie in "The Raid" style, that's how immersive it is.
But unfortunately, Patel builds a gigantic speed-breaker into his movie, seemingly just to show us how serious he is about the mythological and forced political dimension of his film. The Kid first has to fall down, get up again, train even more and only then can he start fighting again. But the Kid is no John Wick, because the necessary striking characterization only exists here through an experienced trauma. Although this is not so essential for an action film, it is still necessary, but the character lacks any form of distinctive traits to make you root for him. Patel can be a versatile actor, but he lacks narrative development to give his character enough charisma. Moments away from the action are either standardized training montages or treatises on a corrupt political regime. The latter in particular weighs "Monkey Man" down too much, so that the final action interludes, as deliberately unrestrained as they are, are entertaining but never provide emotional catharsis. Patel can be forgiven for the fact that not every fight is perfect and often strives for a deliberate animalism. As a reinvention of the action film, "Monkey Man" may have failed in its reversion to the tried and tested, but as an establishment of Patel as a director it is nonetheless promising.