Dev Patel makes his directorial debut with a film Monkey Man, which he wrote, very raw and violent, extremely spectacular but above all heartfelt and personal. Supporting him is director Jordan Peele, who strongly believed in the film and pushed to bring it to the big screen, as it was destined only for distribution on Netflix.
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| Image Credit: Universal Pictures |
Dev Patel, the British actor of Indian origins, is mainly remembered for his role in Slumdog Millionaire (2008) by Danny Boyle and as Saroo in the moving biopic Lion (2016), although he was one of the protagonists of the first generation of the English SKINS series. In this film, the actor plays a character completely different from his usual ones, a silent avenger focused on his mission, in an action thriller that tells the story of a man's revenge against corrupt leaders. Patel thus shows us another aspect of his acting talent as a muscular but sensitive hero who becomes a killing machine.
Inspired by the legend of Hanuman, the symbol of strength and courage, Monkey Man sees Dev Patel in the role of Kid, a young man who earns his living in an underground fight club where, night after night, wearing a gorilla mask, he is beaten bloody from more famous wrestlers in exchange for money. After years of pent-up anger, Kid discovers a way to infiltrate the city's sinister elite enclave. As his childhood trauma boils over, his mysteriously scarred hands unleash an explosive wave of vengeance to settle scores with the men who took everything from him.
The film begins in media red, with a first act that attempts to be both introductory and cryptic at the same time, thus resulting in it being alienating and not very dynamic, but soon the cards on the table are completely shuffled. In the second part, the film goes wild, becoming more adrenaline-filled, creating frenetic action sequences between chases and fights which, despite being derivative of the genre of cinema to which they belong - in the style of John Wick and Asian films such as those by Kim Ji-Woon (Bittersweet Life ) or Park Chan-wook's Revenge trilogy, to Bollywood action – they still have their own strength and personality.
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| Image Credit: Universal Pictures |
The aesthetics of the film are refined and fascinating, thanks to dusty and dirty cinematography which sees the story juggle between clubs in the slums, where Kid fights, in contrast with the neon lights of the luxurious nightclubs where the rich enjoy life by trampling on poor, up to sequences set inside temples and along crowded and chaotic Indian streets. Between clandestine underworld battles, luxury, and the disgusting corruption of the Indian elite, the quality of the execution of the fight choreography is impeccable, managing to combine the Hollywood canons of the best action franchises with a fascinating immersion in Indian culture.
Thanks to editors Dàvid Jancsó and Tim Murrell and director of photography Sharone Meir, Patel keeps the camera free and fluid, almost like another fighter in the room. There's a lot of style, with a nervous, jolting, dizzying hand-held camera and very rapid transitions from one shot to another, blurred images, strobe lights, and visual distortions to instill a sense of energy and chaos, also thanks to the close-ups and constant close-ups. He has an excellent soundtrack that lends itself perfectly to making the fights even more exciting and dynamic, with house-style electronic music that almost reinforces what is shown on the screen.
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| Image Credit: Universal Pictures |
Monkey Man is not just an action thriller, it is also a story of oppression, growth, overcoming grief, and identity. Patel took action templates from around the world of cinema and infused them with a brutality not often seen in Hollywood studio films. Monkey Man is bloody and intense. Bones break, blood gushes and some scenes of violence are so strong that they seem real, they are so natural. A detail that makes us understand how influential Jordan Peele was in the production and distribution phase of a film that would never have seen the theater without his help.
One of the major flaws is the abuse of short flashbacks to show the protagonist's trauma. These break the fluidity of the story and are excessive. It is almost immediately clear what happened and this makes the long final flashback where the event is completely revealed superfluous. The choice to include them is understandable even just to tone down the escalation of violence but they would have been decidedly more focused if shown in a more cryptic, less revealing way.
In conclusion, Dev Patel's directorial debut, despite its flaws, is convincing. Monkey Man is a wild and ambitious film, with high-impact hand-to-hand combat sequences and truly creative bloodshed, highlighted by an energetic soundtrack, frenetic staging, and clever use of lighting. From Bollywood to Hollywood, the history of action is dotted with gray antiheroes, what distinguishes Patel's young Kid are the motivations that push him to action in a real revenge movie that leaves no escape.
