I’ve been a massive fan of Dev Patel ever since I saw Slumdog Millionaire seventeen years ago. In that film, he did an incredible job. I’ve watched him grow as an actor in roles in The Green Knight, Lion, The Hotel Mumbai, and many others. He has entered into a different part of his career now as a producer, writer, director, and star of Monkey Man. This is an incredible achievement and I was blown away by what I watched. 

Dev Patel plays a young man who makes a meager living as a fighter in an underground fight club run by Tiger (Sharlto Copley) His character is named Monkey Man and he fights much bigger and more popular fighters than him such as King Cobra and so forth every night. Getting the hell beaten out of him. The whole time he has dreams of getting revenge on those who harmed his mother and caused his hands to be scarred for life.

Through a confluence of events, this man gets a job at a nightclub that serves the high society of India. Rich people, politicians, police, and other dignitaries. They serve expensive wine and liquor and serve the best food. As a janitor, he does all the dirty work from emptying the trash to mopping the floors and cleaning toilets. Until he finds a man, Alphonso (Pitobsh Tripathi) he can exploit to improve his station. Which he does. He becomes a server which gets him closer to the first of his targets. He sets everything up perfectly, but things as they say don’t go as planned. This sets off a whole manhunt for the rest of the film.

There is a subplot in this movie that I couldn’t stop thinking about. It is a story about a Monkey King called Hanuman. This is like a symbol for Patel’s character. He embodies this Indian myth when he’s in the ring fighting and when he’s on his revenge course. This symbolic character from stories of the country means a lot to him. So much that he embodies what it is to be the Monkey King literally putting on the mask and fighting for his life every day. This part of the film is the best part to me. There are a lot of great parts to this movie but this has a greater meaning and heft. I can see why Patel wrote it into the script.

Patel does a lot that had me on the edge of my seat for the entire movie. First off he casts actors in the roles of these characters that I was forced to like or dislike.  There was no middle ground. The police chief, Rana (Sikandar Khere) is a piece of work. He is a terrible human being in this film. Queenie (Ashwini Kalsekar) as the nightclub owner is almost as bad. She curses up a storm and abuses her employees quite a bit. On the other hand, Sita (Sobhita Dhulipala) is a nice woman who is degraded by the customers of the club and treated like crap by the owner. Patel’s character has a bit of a sweet spot for her. One other cast member, Vipin Sharma who plays Alpha, a drag queen, is an inspirational character. They are such a big help to the main character in his journey moving forward in the film. These are just a handful of the fantastic cast that play a key role in this amazing film.

One of the things that is so great about this film is the kinetic action sequences and fight scenes. In one action sequence in particular Patel’s character fights his way through a bunch of thugs in a kitchen. He uses pans, knives, and whatever he can get his hands on to dispatch these thugs. The close-quarters fighting is some of the best since the John Wick Franchise. I feel Patel wanted to capture that same level of action with the fight coordination in this film as in the John Wick films. He succeeded in every possible way.

One of the story technologies Patel used in the script was flashbacks. As the movie progresses the flashbacks and dreams of Patel’s character get longer and more intense. The viewer gets to know why he’s on this bloody revenge quest. By bloody I mean bloody. There are literally buckets of blood spilled in the course of this film. Patel himself is covered in blood, scars, and stab wounds throughout the course of his revenge quest. He went full tilt with the dedication to this role.

Monkey Man is inevitably going to get compared to the John Wick Franchise. The revenge plot, the action chase scenes, fight scenes and there is even a dog thrown in for good measure. Patel is channeling that franchise, but he puts an Indian spin on the film since he’s Indian from India. There are geopolitical aspects to the story about an election and a corrupt leader who thinks he’s all-powerful and can’t be stopped. This has a vibe of real-life events that hit a little close to home, but I loved every minute of it anyway.

Monkey Man is easily one of the best films of the year by far. It has some jaw-dropping action sequences that would make John Wick and Keanu Reeves shake their heads. The comparisons are inevitable but this film does some different things that set it apart from that franchise. The supporting cast of Indian actors are all fantastic whether they play a good guy or bad guy. Dev Patel has stepped into another level of filmmaking. Yes, other actors have done double or triple duty on movie sets before, but not to this level. Patel creates a visceral,  bloody, violent crazy fever dream of a film that I will never forget. He is one of the best at his game and he tops anything he’s ever done in his career. This is as perfect as a film I’ve seen this year. It’s that great!

5 stars

Dan Skip Allen