Fuelled by an all consuming quest for revenge, a young man (Dev Patel) spends his time getting beaten bloody in an underground fight club. He infiltrates a high end establishment in order to get close to the city’s corrupt and elite. When the opportunity presents itself he unleashes years of rage and trauma to seek vengeance against the men who took everything from him.
Bone-crunching, violent and exhilarating from start to finish. Monkey Man is like John Wick meets Kill Bill meets The Raid. Full of fights, full of rage and full of energy. Set in a city where the little guy is continually getting crushed by the powerful and corrupt. It’s a real underdog story, and sure to find lots of fans in the cinema because if there’s one thing audiences will always enjoy, it’s a revenge thriller.
As these stories go it’s not reinventing anything, it’s a crime movie similar to many you’ve seen before but it’s stylish, brutal and gritty. It does have too much shaky camera work and at times is difficult to see through the chaos. This settles down eventually as the film progresses and while it’s full of energy there are moments when the pacing suffers. But overall it will definitely deliver on the action and the ferocious fight scenes. But what makes it unique is it’s decision to tackle issues like class, social conflict, and police brutality which makes it stand out from some other more generic action movies. It definitely had more depth to it than I was expecting.
Dev Patel is showing us all that he has a particular set of skills that he’s not afraid to use. And no it’s not just pummelling half of Mumbai to death but his skill as a director. Monkey Man is a very impressive directorial debut and has rightly earned its place among some of the best action/revenge stories. I hope Hollywood allows Patel to make more movies because it’s clear he has a real love of cinema. He’s an action movie star now even if he did have to go and create the role for himself. And it shouldn’t have needed to be saved from streaming by Jordan Peele but for a while there it did look like Monkey Man wouldn’t appear in cinemas at all. Well it’s here now so get out there this weekend and check it out. Highly recommended and a must see for action movie fans.
★★★★☆
Mad For Movie Reviews 