There was nothing to ever indicate that Patel could be an action hero. He has built a strong following over the years for being a good dramatic actor with the occasional flair for comedy – with films such as Lion and The Exotic Marigold Hotel showing that he is well and truly better than the ‘child actor’ tag he received with his sensational break-through performance in Slumdog Millionaire.
If anything you would think perhaps Patel might be a bit gun-shy when it comes to the action genre – the things that he has done that has come close to the mark are Chappie and The Last Airbender, which many say are his worst films. Meanwhile the brilliant Hotel Mumbai saw Patel play a character that was mostly hiding when the shooting started. But now here we are with Monkey Man – and it is complete brilliance.
Monkey Man sees Patel play a character only known as Kid. He is a notoriously bad wrestler who loses every bout he is in as he fights in an underground wrestling organisation run by Tiger (Sharlto Copley – District 9). It soon becomes a running joke that the Monkey Man is an easy beat in the ring.
However, it soon becomes apparent that Kid has bigger plans. He is looking for revenge for the death of his mother year’s earlier. He blames a spiritual guru called Baba Shakti (Makrand Deshapnde – Spy) and a corrupt police officer, Rana (Sikandar Kher – The Zoya Factor), for the death of his mother as they took part in a vicious land grab. Now Kid wants to take them both down and anybody else that works with them.
There have been many John Wick copycat movies made over the past few years but few have decided to be as creative as Monkey Man. On the surface Monkey Man is a simple revenge tale – but when you dig a little deeper it becomes a film grounded in Indian spirituality and makes a strong political statement about the state of the world today.
Not only does the film announce Patel as an action hero, a role he takes on with complete ease, but it also reveals him to be a talented filmmaker who was obviously taking a great many notes when he worked with legendary director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) all those years ago. Filmmakers like Boyle have a knack for being able to transport their audience into the dirt and grime of where their films are set, and Patel certainly does that with Monkey Man – a film where as an audience member you swear you can smell the sweat, blood and dirt that contaminates every frame of this film.
The other unique side of Patel’s filmmaking is that he seems to be able to make this film just alternative enough to separate it from any other action film out there while making sure it is still audience-friendly enough not to lose the more commercial film lover just looking for an entertaining night out with friends.
As far as the action genre goes Monkey Man does everything right – from some entertaining hand-to-hand combat sequences and an incredibly inventive car chase. When you mix that with the character driven parts of the film – especially the spiritual journey that Kid is taken on as he tries to overcome his grief and focus on what is going to help him achieve his goals. Patel and his filmmaking team even find a way to make the cliched ‘from man to warrior’ montage something a little different this time around.
What speaks volumes about this film is the way that Dev Patel fought for this film. He wrote the original script, alongside two screenwriters and was set to star in it. He was determined to make an action film that in his own words has ‘real soul, real pain, real trauma and had culture’. Then the film ran into trouble filming during the COVID pandemic and then had one major streaming platform cancel its release before they thought it was too ‘political’. Patel fought on though and eventually found a distributor who was willing to release the film.
There is little wonder that Patel fought so hard for Monkey Man to be released. This is a very special film that shows that an action film can have heart and soul. Monkey Man is not only an entertaining film to watch but also shows why Patel deserves to be listed as one of the most promising filmmakers going around at the moment.
Monkey Man opens in Phuket on May 16
5/5 Stars
David Griffiths has been working as a film and music reviewer for over 20 years. That time has seen him work in radio, television and in print. He is also an accredited reviewer for Rotten Tomatoes. You can follow him at www.facebook.com/subcultureentertainmentaus