Brams’s review published on Letterboxd:
What a directorial debut from Dev Patel. Monkey Man is a colorful and violent film that any filmmaker should be proud of especially someone just hopping in the director's chair.
Dev Patel has always felt underappreciated to me. He's only been nominated for an Oscar only once. It seems that he gets overshadowed by other actors and forgotten about which is very unfortunate. He's a stand out in every one of his films and Monkey Man is no exception. He delivers another captivating performance in a role that's very atypical for him. He's starred in a few "action" films before, but nothing like this. His role in Monkey Man definitely pushed him to his limits: he's furious and relentless, but also very sympathetic.
Monkey Man at it's core is a revenge story. There's nothing special about the plot - you can tell exactly where the story is going to go from the opening scene. It's the presentation of this film that makes it worth watching compared to the action focus like your John Wicks or Equalizers. Indian culture and Hindu mythology are already fascinating and I love the attention and symbolism that Patel gives them here. He seamlessly weaves Hinduism throughout the story events in a way that enhances almost every scene. Indian culture is not often seen on American screens so anytime I get to experience it I'm fascinated and I immediately want to know more. I truly believe that without both of these elements, Monkey Man would not have been as successful.
The action in Monkey Man is awesome. I went in expecting very familiar action from what we've seen in recent years. There are certainly some similarities, but the fights in Monkey Man are much more visceral than those in most films I've seen. There are virtually no guns in the film so most of the action scenes are hand-to-hand combat. Most of the fight choreography is great. There are some scenes where you can tell the characters slowed down for some of the more difficult stunts, but a majority of it works perfectly. My biggest issue with the action, especially any chase scenes, is shaky cam. This has become a crutch in many recent action films to add action where there is none. While I don't think that was the case here, it's used to often and can become disorienting. It does add to the gritty feel of the film and in some cases it works, but not all.
This film does feel a bit crude at times and I'm sure that's again due to Patel being a first time director. He does do a much better job than most starting filmmakers and on a budget of just $10 million that's extremely impressive.
My biggest problem with the film is that it's very slow getting started. We get a lot of buildup and brief flashbacks that I feel like the film would have benefitted from removing. The first hour of the film feels like it could have been a different film entirely and slows things down to a crawl. The little flashbacks are super generic and don't add much to the movie. It would have been better to simply allude to his past events, wait until the primary flashback later in the movie, or move that main flashback to an earlier point in the film.
Lists: 2024 Ranked
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