‘Monkey Man’ Review – Dev Patel Becomes An Action Star In His Kinetic, Messy Directorial Debut [SXSW 2024]

Before its SXSW premiere, movie star and now movie director Dev Patel introduced his directorial debut, Monkey Man, as candidly as a new director could. “Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong,” he said to a packed house at the Paramount Theatre. His opening remarks and subsequent Q&A spoke of COVID complications, closed borders, broken cranes, and broken body parts, not to mention an edit that had only recently been completed despite production ending in 2021. “The paint is still barely dry on this one.” Despite all of this, the crowd was abuzz unlike any other headliner at SXSW 2024, eager to experience another ultraviolent, heavily choreographed spectacle, the kind that always sets the festival ablaze.

That’s exactly what the crowd got, but Patel’s preface couldn’t prepare them for just how grimy and gritty this entry into the genre would be. Every moment of Monkey Man suggests a production as high-octane as the film itself, shot with a propulsive energy to the point that the camerawork is literally as rough-and-tumble as its main character. Certain shots in the film are so unpolished that it feels like they were lucky to have been captured at all. This messy but electric energy both helps and hurts Patel’s debut, an audacious and politically-charged actioner that transforms the heartthrob into a bonafide genre star but leaves plenty of room for him to grow as a virtual storyteller.

Like most films of its ilk, Monkey Man’s biggest hurdle is its story. Patel portrays Kid, a man who spends his nights being beaten up in an underground wrestling circuit for cash. Kid dons a monkey mask in the ring, inspired by the Hindu legend of Hanuman, a human-monkey hybrid who is punished by the gods for swallowing the sun. Plagued by flashbacks to his mother’s murder as part of a fiery village raid, Kid cons his way into a job at a luxury restaurant frequented by his mother’s killer (Sikander Kher). After his initial attempt at taking revenge leaves him bloodied and drowning in the river, the keeper of a local temple (Vipin Sharma) and his own village of gender non-conforming outcasts save him and train him to be the people’s champion.

Much of this story is conveyed through expositional dialogue (so quick and thickly accented that the speakers of the Paramount weren’t enough for this critic to catch most of it) as well as occasional archival footage of India’s real-world oppression. Patel and co-writers John Cole and Paul Angunawela have clearly put a lot of thought into their dramatized vision of India, from the nooks and crannies of its impoverished communities to the political corruption that lies at the very top of the heirarchy. However, the film moves at such a clip that much of the story’s details and nuances are difficult to parse. Without proper context, the story will simply wash over audiences and its middle third may move too slowly for them to forgive that.

However, the real reason we’re all here is the action, which Patel and cinematographer Sharone Meir capture with an unhinged messiness. The film’s first major action sequence, a fight scene followed by a chaotic chase on both foot and by rickshaw, is an engrossing and at times indiscernible thrill ride. Copious use of shaky cam is balanced with plenty of impressive stunts to make for an exciting extended sequence but one that comes too late in the film to fully embrace such sloppiness. The film really kicks into gear in the third act with its ferocious climax, a sharply choreographed comeuppance that is sure to rile up action fans. The film’s clear influences – John Wick, The Raid, the films of Bruce Lee – feel most prominent during this culminating onslaught and it is revelatory to witness.

Even outside the action, Patel fully commits to the film’s unflinching violence and political radicalism. Kid’s trauma is intense, as portrayed through stunning but tactful flashbacks, and his motivations to take down the story’s corrupt villains feel fully realized. This is why, even amidst paper-thin characterizations, every moment between characters feels palpable and potentially even satisfying. It’s a testament to Patel’s work ethic and passion that this project works as well as it does despite the shoestring connective tissue. It proves he is a director that is not only worthy of a full-on theatrical release (thank you Jordan Peele), but one that has the potential to reignite the action genre while simultaneously infusing Indian cultural touchstones into the modern filmmaking zeitgeist. With some polish, he could become one of the greats.

Monkey Man held its World Premiere as part of the Headliners section of the 2024 SXSW TV & Film Festival. The film will be released in theaters nationwide on April 5, 2024, courtesy of Universal Pictures.

Director: Dev Patel

Screenwriters: Dev Patel, Paul Angunawela, John Collee

Rated: R

Runtime: 120m

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8zxiB5Qhsc]