Monkey Man is an action/thriller movie released on March 11th, 2024, directed by and starring Dev Patel. Patel’s career breakthrough was his first feature film debut, Slumdog Millionaire, where he plays the titular character. Since then, he has starred in many more movies including Lion, The Green Knight, and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. In October of 2018, Patel announced that he would be making his directorial debut with Monkey Man, which ended up being released just six years later, and to great acclaim. It follows the story of Kid, a man who makes a living in a bloody underground fight club, where he is beaten by more popular fighters for cash. We come to find out about his tragic childhood, and see the trauma he’s been suppressing for so long come out of him, by getting vengeance against the society elites who have wronged him.
This movie is heavy on its action, and isn’t afraid to let you know that. It’s quite bloody and gory at times, but not to the point where it feels at all unnecessary. Making these fight scenes as ruthless as they are really adds to the brutality people like Kid are facing in the corrupt society of wealthy elites the movie takes place in. The fight scenes are extremely well choreographed, and are couples with stunning cinematography. They move extremely fast and are complicated, but the impressive camera work makes it so you can still follow exactly what’s going down. Something noteworthy to take away is that the fight scenes evolve as the movie progresses, going from chaotic and messy to controlled and rhythmic. The story is powerful and emotionally invested as it covers injustices like discrimination, poverty, corruption, and transgenderism, so seeing the main character grow as a fighter to fight against these injustices really solidifies the plot for what it is.
What Monkey Man serves as is a social commentary, mainly on India’s caste system. It addresses the inequalities stemming from this system effectively. The glimpses we get of everyday life are harsh, but true to life and absolutely needed in the film. We see how the wealthy have their slimy hands on everything, and people without money face an awful, unjust life each day. Patel found it important to take a stance on trans-rights. A lot of the movie’s characters are from the Hijra community, consisting of third gender groups including transgender people. It is a community that society has been aiming to remove for a long time, so Patel found it necessary to represent this community and stand up for them, which is extremely admirable.
Patel has stated that he’s been an action movie fan since he was a kid, and got to fulfill his dream of making his own with themes he’s connected to. The result is Monkey Man, a fantastic social commentary with incredible action and a gripping plot. I highly recommend you go see it, it’s worth the time.