Monkey Man

Dev Patel is Monkey Man's director, main protagonist and one of the three screenwriters. The action film has been advertised as "John Wick in India", which is not true in my opinion. The movie offers lots of skilful violence, life in a big city and plenty of crime and corruption, but Monkey Man feels much more personal, intense and slow-paced compared to John Wick. This can be seen as a good or a bad thing.

A nameless young man gets hired by a high-class hotel to do all the dirtiest jobs, but really, he is there to assassinate a local corporate CEO, the chief of police and a leader of a religious cult as part of a vengeance effort. And as you can guess, eventually he succeeds. Since the story is so simple, it gives a bit more freedom in how the story is being delivered in a visual medium like a movie.

Monkey Man uses way too many close-up shots and camera shakiness, even in those intense combat sections. It must be said, that the viewer is always aware about what is happening, but the constant barrage of skin pores, eye lashes and beads of sweat gets a bit old before the end. This choice makes Monkey Man an intense, sweaty experience for the viewer, and I assume that was the point. The problem is that the bigger picture - the different urban environments and different social classes of people - becomes blurred. There is a big difference between the lower and higher classes of people, but... what else? Moviegoers in India are probably already very familiar with all of this, but I am not.

On a technical level Monkey Man is deep, and a good first solo endeavour from Dev Patel. There are plenty of characters, but it's hard to remember anyone after the movie. As a whole, Monkey Man is an intense experience, that you don't necessarily think about that much once the credits roll. It's not "John Wick in India", but as a movie I can recommend watching it at some point. Maybe when it comes to a streaming service.