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From its opening scene, “Monkey Man” establishes that it is no ordinary revenge film. Rather, the movie depicts the struggle between the underprivileged and the powers that be as a righteous battle of mythical proportions.

In Dev Patel’s directorial debut, the deities of Hindu myth are reincarnated as contemporary heroes revolting against religious, sexual and class oppression. Inspired by the story of the half-monkey, half-human deity Hanuman, “Monkey Man” greets oppression with bloody and visceral martial arts. Though the film’s themes are shallow when Patel lets words speak louder than action, the fight scenes are outstanding to watch.

Patel does not hold his acting skills back and highlights marginalized stories as a first-time director. Like Hanuman, authorities strike down Kid (played by Patel) for merely trying to live in a world that doesn’t support him.

The film alternates between two timelines: one in the past, where young Kid and his mother Neela (Adithi Kalkunte) live in a forest village and corrupt police officers displace them, and one in the present where adult Kid earns a living in an underground fighting ring. Donning a monkey mask, Kid is paid to repeatedly lose to more popular fighters. Here, Patel physically represents how poor people are forced to take punches to scrape by.

In the meantime, Kid plots his revenge against those who wronged him and killed his mother. He sets his sights on Officer Rana Singh (Sikandar Kher), the man who violently forced him from his home, and Baba Shakti (Makarand Deshpande), a spiritual guru who gained a cultish political following after ordering the destruction of Kid’s village.

Discovering that Singh frequents a luxury brothel called Kings, Kid goes by the name “Bobby” and infiltrates the club’s ranks as a low-level employee. The way he gets his new job involves an exciting montage in which Kid steals the wallet of King’s president, Queenie Kapoor (Ashwini Kalsekar). Set to “151 Rum” by JID as people in the streets of the fictional city Yatana pass off Queenie’s wallet to Kid, the scene demonstrates Patels’ knack for rhythmic visuals.

The film’s plot is structured vertically, as Kid works his way up the ladder in Kings to reach the top floor where Singh parties. Patel patiently builds to their confrontation, showing how Kid trains a stray dog to sneak a gun past the brothel’s security checkpoint.

When Kid and Singh finally clash, the ensuing fight is a total mess. Kid is not an action hero who is immediately skilled in combat. Rather, he is so refreshingly terrible at fighting that he fails to kill his target and runs away. The film emphasizes his lack of skill with a great visual gag where Kid tries to smash through a window but bounces off it instead.

Kid is now fully beaten down and must make a choice: will he continue taking punches or will he train to finally win? New friends encourage Kid after taking refuge with Alpha (Vipin Sharma), a transgender woman. She is a keeper of a third-gender, or “hijra,” community that is under attack from Baba’s bigoted movement. This community further motivates Kid to train and become a new Hanuman.

“Monkey Man” pivots from a slow-building revenge tale into an action-packed rallying cry for marginalized people. The film’s fight scenes, heavily inspired by Patel’s love of martial arts films, soar as Kid grows more coordinated and purposeful in his movements.

Each fight sequence is edited frantically to give impact to each punch, stab or gunshot. The quick cuts and shaky camera purposefully disorient the audience to bring us into the fold, but we never completely lose track of the central action.

When characters aren’t brawling, however, the film drags from the protagonist’s lack of any strong personality. Kid is a total blank slate; though one could project political or cultural struggles onto him, he remains stoic in his desire to kill those who took his mother away from him.

The characters in general are static, with the only consequential conflict being one of heroes versus villains. The ensemble of underdogs around Kid never challenges him, only uplifting him.

Patel thankfully performs his role well, proving he is a ferocious action star. He relishes in up-close-and-personal skirmishes that allow him to use the props or furniture in a scene to brutally take down his enemies. It is a thrill to watch him go through a fight dripping with blood and sweat.

The film is not without underwhelming story threads, namely how Kid’s tragic backstory is applied to a broader political backdrop that serves more as surface-dressing. But Patel has a passionate and confident voice as a filmmaker, especially for this being his first movie.

“Monkey Man” climbs to its peak in the third act, when the themes of resistance meld with action. That moment alone shows that Patel has directorial potential, and it’s only a matter of time before he creates his masterpiece.

Published on April 15, 2024 at 11:05 pm