A Promising Young Spirit of Vengeance - Monkey Man - Review

3/5

Monkey Man is a visceral revenge flick that marks Dev Patel's debut as a compelling up-and-coming director. However, while Patel creates a relatively cohesive and ferocious tone throughout, the film still hits a handful of speed bumps that keep it from excelling in the same ways as its most successful peers and predecessors.

In this film, Patel plays the anonymous Kid/Bobby/Kong/Monkey Man who is on a quest for vengeance against a small aristocratic cabal that brutalized his home. It isn't a revolutionary action premise, but the added setting of India creates a compelling and fresh context. The film features a handful of other characters that get varying levels of characterization. The character of Alphonso, as played by Pitobash Tripathy, is essentially a comedic relief character in the film's opening act as well as a means to Bobby's ends. Still, in his short amount of screen time, Pitobash is able to imbue so much charisma, personality, and depth into his character, that I was sad to see him go. I do still wish however that his character was at least given some agency in the finale of the picture. Kid also meets a woman named Sita (Sobhita Dhulipala) in the same club. While she does not pop as much as Pitobash, the couple scenes of empathetic connection with Patel and their palpable chemistry went a long way in a film that doesn't do the best job fleshing out characters. For example, the villains all feel really shallow. None of their character traits or quirks popped enough for me putting them in line with most of their grunts.

The pacing is also another point at which this film hiccups a little. While I do not hate the structuring of the plot on the whole, I do think there are some points where we could've tightened things up a little. One of these adjustments would have been to trim out some of the film's fat. I think this film could have easily been brought down to a swift and satisfying 90 minutes if some of the beats (specifically in the second act of the film) were streamlined or cut. This brings me to my second concern with the film's pace, the flashbacks. During the film, the Kid flashes back A LOT to the tragedy of his youth and the good times with his mother. This is accomplished through the intercutting of short shots into the film's first half. While its use is still a tad excessive as is in the film's opening, it is a solid way of conveying his trauma and the central event without a standard flashback. However, then the film also gives us the entirety of the flashback in a later scene. If the film had just chosen to do one or the other, they would have been tighter, and I would feel a little less like someone was trying to remind me I should be sad.

Now, we should probably discuss the factor that really makes or breaks this kind of movie; the action. I was honestly surprised at how long it took for the movie to present us with its first action setpiece. The film marketed itself as a revenge flick in the vein of John Wick. While it certainly exhibits those traits, that is definitely not its only goal. To me, the film is structured as more of an origin story, and, as a result, it shows Monkey Man's evolution and growth. I don't mind this slower burn in an action film, but a faster pace after we've finally reached that first big set piece would have been nice to keep that momentum going once we got there. As far as the fight/action setpieces themselves are concerned, they were pretty good. Each hit feels really impactful and the viciousness of the combat is gripping as an audience member. That said, I am not a huge fan of how these sequences were shot. I am aware that this is my most subjective criticism of this film, but I am not a fan of the style of action filmmaking that involves a lot of quick cutting and tight handheld shots. While I understand the choice, as it enhances the visceral nature of the combat for the audience, I would much rather see the very well-choreographed fight sequences in their entirety so that I can really appreciate the craftsmanship. There was one point in the film where they did a wide shot of Dev fighting guys on a bar. It was magnificent. It was the exact thing I wanted more of. But after three or four seconds they cut to some other fighting, ruining what would have otherwise been my favorite shot of fighting in the whole film. On the whole, the fights did work for me, I just personally wish they had been executed in a slightly different way. 

Monkey Man is not flawless, but what debut feature is? While some scenes may not work perfectly, every once in a while you get one of Dev training to drum beats, and you are hooked again. The strengths of this film (its strong tone and central vision) illustrate what great potential lies in Dev's future as a filmmaker. What he has done with representation and social commentary shows promise, and I am eager to see how he adapts and evolves after this relative success.

Monkey Man releases theatrically this weekend.