150 Word Review: 'Monkey Man' (2024)
A real gorilla thrilla
In his directorial debut, Monkey Man, actor Dev Patel is aggressive in front of and behind the camera.
Set in a fictional Indian metropolis, Monkey Man is an impressive first feature, a hyperviolent revenge spectacle that critiques nationalist politics, specifically in India, but the message is global. The movie stands against corrupt cops and religious hypocrites and sides with the poor and marginalized.
Patel is an inventive filmmaker with an eye for kinetic mayhem and visual textures. Every appropriate bodily fluid is represented: blood, sweat, and tears. Spit, too. The fight scenes are gruesome and stabby, John Wick but meaner, filthier.
He is also believable as a sinewy street warrior. Patel's character is a slumdog Punisher who can take and dish it out. "It" = "pain." The legend: a brawler in a chimp mask hustles his way up the social ladder until he finds the powerful men who murdered his mom.
When I saw it I was sitting there at the end hoping it didn't end the way it ended. I was super wrong though.
I thought I was already part of the family. In any case, my Spice Girls list operates as such:
Scary
Ginger/Sporty
Baby
...Posh
(I never got what it was that made "Posh Spice" quality enough to land a husband like David Beckham. I just suppose we all like different things.)