Monkey Man

Monkey Man fought a long battle to get to the big screen. It was greenlit in 2018, had its production complicated by that pandemic in 2020, and was held up by Netflix (who paid $30 million for the rights) ever since. It was saved from oblivion by Jordan Peele, who got Universal to buy it for just $10 million. Let's finally see how it is.

This is essentially a showcase for Dev Patel, who makes his directorial debut from a script he co-wrote with Paul Angunawela and John Collee, and also stars as its nameless protagonist. Our hero, who is only called "Kid," fights at an underground fighting arena run by the unscrupulous Tiger (Sharlto Copley). He's a jobber who regularly gets beaten by all the "cool" fighters. His persona is "The Beast," a gorilla masked fighter inspired by the monkey deity Hanuman, a central figure in the Indian national epic, Ramayana. 

As a boy, his mother Neela (Adithi Kalkunte) and much of his village, were massacred by the corrupt police chief Rana Singh (Sikandar Kher), who acted under the orders of the also-corrupt guru Baba Shakti (Makarand Deshpande). He gets his chance for revenge when he's hired by crime boss and Madam Queenie (Ashwini Kalsekar) on the kitchen staff of her VIP club. Rana is one of her regulars, but it takes time before our hero gets close to him. His first chance for revenge goes south, so he needs unconventional help to get him ready for round two.

This is a heavily political film, which is partially why Netflix got cold feet. Its villains are allegories for the government of current Prime Minister Modi; Shakti, in particular, is aiming to win an election for his Nationalist Party. A lot of the political references may fly over a few heads - I spent a good portion just now researching them - but the villains are still crooked enough that a few themes still get through. Our hero's unconventional help is a Hijra (third-gender in Hindi culture) community led by Alpha (Vipin Sharma). They're quite interesting characters who train him quite well and even provide backup in the final battle.

Its relatively sparse plot is told over the course of 121 minutes. It takes quite a while before our hero makes it to Rana, during which, he becomes involved with Sita (Sobhita Dhulipala), an escort under Queenie's employ. It's a decent relationship which suffers from her relative lack of screentime. All the while, Kid's backstory is gradually given in flashbacks, with the pivotal moment saved for the second half. It's quite easy to sympathize with Kid during his hero's journey before then. His fury, whether visceral or tranquil, is impressive, and he shows his humanity when he feeds a stray puppy. There's another ally, Alphonso (Pitobash), who gives him an in with Queenie, but he doesn't have much screentime.

The film is naturally livened by its brutal fight scenes. We get a few good arena fights for Kid to show his jobber role. When he finally gets to Rana, it sets off a long brawl which sees him fight off several goons, escape from corrupt cops and fight more goons. It also leads to the funniest moment in the film when a window escape attempt doesn't go as planned. The film's slow pace is validated when Kid makes his comeback in the arena. He knocks his frequent rival out with one boot to the head and defeats the follow-up opponent - a giant - with relative ease. The final battle makes for another excellent brawl; wait till you see his firecracker gun!

Those fight scenes are excellently edited by David Jansco & Tim Murrell and accentuated by a soundtrack which includes some surprising oldies and a great score by Jed Kurzel. Sharone Meir's cinematography gives some excellent use of color (i.e., Kid bathed in red light in the finale), and a stunning shot travelling from above to Shakti down below. All in all, Monkey Man is a good action thriller even if its major themes require plenty of context. I don't know if there'll be a sequel - I'm not talking about its box office, for once - but I'm curious as to what Patel might direct next. Hopefully, it'll be something good.