Quick pics: Big monkey energy
Monkey Man feels like a passion project for writer/director/star Dev Patel: a way for the British actor to marry together all the energy of Indian culture with some kind of Hollywood mythology. You know: the way Slumdog Millionaire did, when Patel first broke out as a star.
In Monkey Man, the Indian mythology of Hanuman, a kind of warrior monkey fighting for the oppressed, is overtaken by the reality of Kid (Patel), a scrappy but luckless fighter in a boxing ring where he’s forced to wear a monkey mask and get pummeled every night for bettors. He’s got pluck, he’s nursing a wound from long ago, and he’s... out for revenge.
Though the cinematography is top-notch, and Patel’s visual style (borrowed or not) is certainly very vivid, all thoughts of Monkey Man being some kind of allegory or poetic meditation on race and class are kind of tossed out the window by the first visceral slo-mo beating, or ass-grinding private men’s club scene. It’s really more like Fight Club meets John Wick meets Slumdog, which may not be far from Patel’s original pitch.
There are quaverings of spiritual growth underneath the neon-noir gritty night scenes, but this is really a revenge pic, with a male lead who becomes an action hero. Cops are corrupt, spiritual gurus are corrupt. Only love is real. The mask is a red herring, ultimately.
You can’t fault Patel for wanting to get some of that Big Action Energy in telling his own kind of story. There’s even a “fight training” scene where Patel learns to hit the speed bag to the three-hit beat of a wise old guru tapping the tables. So there’s a bit of Karate Kid thrown in, for good measure.
For cathartic release, there’s a boxing scene where Kid decides to actually do his thing in the ring (suddenly adding kickboxing to his repertoire), much to the surprise of the rapacious Australian fight promoter. It’s the clearest evocation of Patel’s intent in the film: to present a warrior rising up from Indian mythology, fighting for his poor people’s pride. Any country or race of people could relate to that.
Of course, it all turns to a bloody mess as Kid pummels, knives, blows up, and blasts away every bad guy in sight. Yet, while a John Wick entry might allow a few shafts of light and humor into the splatter spree, Monkey Man’s hero feels somehow less righteous, his violent catharsis more on the side of diabolical.