The city of Yatana is abuzz with excitement, not only because of the upcoming Diwali festivities but also because it coincides with a new election.  While the rich and famous party and celebrate at an exclusive club run by Queenie (Ashwini Kalsekar), a revolution is being sparked underground and in the streets.  An anonymous fighter known for his persona in the ring as Monkey Man (Dev Patel), pulling his identity from the legend of Hanuman, infiltrates the world of the elite seeking to enact revenge on the chief of police, Rana (Sikandar Kher), and Baba Shakti (Makarand Deshpande), a spiritual adviser who was instrumental in enacting a crusade by weaponizing to police to displace citizens in a reclamation of holy land. 

Dev Patel’s long-in-the-works passion project Monkey Man finally debuted at South by Southwest ahead of its theatrical release from Universal.  The film is Patel’s directorial debut, and he also broke the story while Paul Angunawela and John Collee provided the script for the action piece.  Running 121 minutes, the action thriller really homes in on the specifics of this fictionalized reflection of class and politics in modern-day India as opposed to simply casting a broad net as many action thrillers tend to cast.  The result is an intriguing blend of theme and style that feels like a work of pulpy, local cinema while still being platformed nationally, though ironically, it will probably reach less of an audience under its current banner than it would have under Netflix who initially financed the film before getting cold feet. 

Not shying away from the immediate comparisons to the John Wick franchise, Monkey Man is not devoid of guns but far prefers hand-to-hand combat instead of relying on firepower alone.  This choice allows Patel to show off a new character style that has been hinted at in his previous works, but largely unseen in this caliber.  A thoughtful and meditative action hero, Patel’s character – who in the script is referred to as “Kid” – moves with far more intention than most of our punch-em-up heroes.  Sharone Meir is able to get up close and personal with the camera and the editing team of Joe Galdo, Dávid Jancsó, and Tim Murrell cut and assemble the melees with moderate pacing.  There are moments where details get lost in the fury, but many of the fights remain legible as Meir’s camera whips and follows across the room before cutting back for an opposing angle.  Wash, rinse, repeat and you have yourself an action sequence that moves with the accelerated bpm as required by modern audiences in the digital age. 

There are two major fighting styles showcased in the film, the more sleek and modern as described above takes up the lions’ share, but the film proper opens in a dusty underground ring where Tiger (Sharlto Copley) lets his “animals” fight and there is a payday bonus if you come out of the ring bleeding.  Opening this way sets the stage for Patel to really pivot the story into something larger than an elite fighter hustling his way to the top as an underdog and into the more personal and political piece that it evolves into, but from being shopped around and only bought after being cosigned by Jordan Peele, Monkey Man suffers from a bit of Xerox syndrome in that as it went into each new iteration, it lost some of its details.  In simpler but more blunt terms, what that means is that the film is a bit of a slog to get through as it does not have the narrative precision needed and its commentary feels far duller than it was originally conceived. To return to the Xerox metaphor, it was then run through the shredded and reassembled with scotch tape. 

While the first act especially has a lot going on and to keep track of, it is admirable of Patel to remain so ferocious in his pursuit of his vision for this story.  He is not interested in holding the audience’s hand and the onus is wholly on us to keep up.  With allusions to the political climate in India, there is a lot of nuance in the story which may pass Western audiences by, but there is plenty to latch on to as, unfortunately, extremists seem to be infiltrating governments across the globe and that poison is slowly becoming a dreadful, universal theme.  While the film certainly does lose some of its power because of that removal from the immediate – and through no fault of its own – it is just one more barrier to entry into a film that is already rather standoffish given how next-to-wordless its main hero is. 

Thankfully, the second half of the film really picks up after the first major bravado action sequence and a hard reset as the film fades up from black and Kid is recovering from his injuries at a temple.  The temple is a reprieve for transgender citizens, a class of people who are being weeded out by the political regime, and under the guidance of Alpha (Vipin Sharma), the leader of the temple, Kid undergoes a drug-fueled vision that acts as a bit of a reset for the film and sets it back on track.  While in this fugue state, Patel really shows off his fluency in film language as he brings all of these threads together into a beautiful, soon-to-be-bloodstained tapestry.  The film opens with an illustrated dramatization of the legend of Hanuman who reached for the juiciest mango on the tree and ate it, not realizing it was the sun, and for his mistake, he was punished by the gods.  Patel brings in some of the same visual cues established in the illustrations, equating his heart to the mango, the sun, and Hanuman while not ignoring the imagery of a spark – an ember – that will light the fire of revolution.  It opens the film up to pursuing a no-holds-barred final act and regains audiences’ trust that there is a director at the helm and that the course has not been lost or drawn astray despite the bloated opening. 

Monkey Man, through its flaws, is the heralding of a new directorial talent who is eager and unafraid to graft his personal experience on the general appeal of genre filmmaking.  It is a version of Patel that we have only previously seen hinted at, but still feels new and fresh.  To blame the shortcoming wholly on Patel’s status as a novice would be unfair given just how many cooks were in the kitchen, but it really does feel like a filmmaker scared of being given his first and last opportunity so they overstuff the film with ideas and inspiration without the runtime to support it all.  It is a film being torn in three separate, yet important, directions, and it is just a real shame that Patel settled on a revenge thriller as the vehicle for his philosophy when he has proven time and time again to be able to show all shades of rightful anger in much more interesting and invigorating dramatic ways.  Sometimes, though, an explosion is the only way and there is enough merit here that will hopefully afford Patel the opportunity to really sharpen his ideas and present more focused projects in the future.