Bullet Points: Monkey Man
We are wrapping up Going Bananas Week in a big way with Dev Patel’s directorial debut, 2024’s Monkey Man…
- Welcome to the Jungle: The action starts right out of the gate as we see Kid (Dev Patel) in his Monkey Man mask battling it out with King Cobra (Brahim Chab, Vanguard) in a fight promoted by Tiger (Sharlto Copley, The A-Team). Kid doesn’t fare too well in the fight and even worse Kid was less than thrilled with his payoff… which gave me flashbacks to my days of booking independent wrestling shows. So it’s probably no surprise that Kid uses his brains to get a meeting with Queenie, a powerful woman who runs a club that caters to an elite clientele that go through life feeling that they are above the law.
- The Best Laid Plans: But we soon find out that it is not all about money for Kid… he wanted this job at Queenie’s for personal reasons. The less than ethical Chief of Police, Rana Singh (Sikandar Kher), is a regular at Queenie’s and Kid knows if he can get close to Rana he can get the revenge he has craved his whole life. Kid climbs the ranks with some help from Alphonso (Pitobash) and Kid is able to sneak a gun into the club. At this point, there have been flashes of the Kid’s past and when Kid confronts Rana in the men’s room, Kid confirms that the revenge he is seeking is for his mother. Things don’t got exactly as planned and the action intensifies as a result… until it looks like the Kid is done.
- Revenge of the Monkey: Kid is rescued in more ways than one by Alpha (Vipin Sharma), who helps Kid tap into the memories that have tortured him since he was a kid and we as the audience get to experience the full heartbreaking flashback of what happened to Kid’s mother. This opens the door for Kid to take another crack at Rana Singh and Rana’s puppet master in what was an intense finale!
Monkey Man is a rich tapestry of brutal in your face action, Indian culture and down and dirty revenge. Dev Patel’s vision and execution of the film was unlike anything I have experienced before. With that said, Monkey Man also had some tried and true action elements… parking garage danger, a car chase, a training montage and so many fight scenes!
A tried and true element of my reviews are some Bonus Bullet Points to wrap things up…
- The Influence: I have talked about the influence that the John Wick films have had on action movies over the last decade and Monkey Man takes it one step further with a fun John Wick reference when Kid is gun shopping.
- The Credit: In the press leading up to the release of Monkey Man, Dev Patel gave Brahim Chab his well deserved props as the film’s fight choreographer. What was even more impressive is the fact that Brahim was a last minute addition to the crew! I have been a fan of Brahim’s work in front of the camera for years and after experiencing Monkey Man, I can honestly say I am a fan of Brahim’s work behind the camera too. The fireworks as weapons were sweet… they reminded of Destro (of G.I. Joe fame) and his wrist rockets! Bravo Brahim!
- The Theater: When Kid attempts to escape via window, the theater I was in had a good chuckle at Kid’s expense.
