'Monkey Man' Is A Smashing Directorial Debut
That's one heck of a directorial debut. Actor Dev Patel has gone a long way from being just an actor. The work Patel does behind the camera is stellar. Monkey Man is ferociously cut where there's little room to breathe. But that's a good thing, as this is meant to be an action movie. Monkey Man is not only an action movie but one with some meaning. The film is incredibly gritty, where you can feel the sweatdrops coming down from each character. That's mostly thanks to Sharone Meir's cinematography. The movie has a hot feeling. There's a heavy orange tint, like the sun is burning down on you, capturing India's heat.
The attention to detail in the movie is bar none. This doesn't feel like a film any actor could have directed. It's stylized too much to make it unrecognizable. You can see one frame of this movie without any of the main characters in it and know what film this is. It's that distinct.
The story of the film is about a man who goes by the name Kid (Dev Patel) Kid lives a low-key life in the slums where he doesn't have a bed, which is fine because Kid never sleeps. He lives to fight. When not washing dishes for his night job, Kid competes in fighting tournaments where he wears a monkey mask. Kid dons the mask not to protect his identity but to coincide with an ancient myth about a man who used the spirit of a monkey to fight for his people or something along the lines of that. Kid fights at night and washes dishes so he can close in on the man who killed his mother and burned his village to the ground.
The revenge angle in Monkey Man works as it's a commentary on the caste system in India. Because of the caste system, those on the lower end of the economic spectrum are abused by the police. Kind of like here, come to think about it. There's a universality of the mistreatment of the poor in this movie. In most countries, if you're poor, it's easier for the authorities to trample all over you. You don't have the means to obtain a credible lawyer, so the cops can do anything they want to you.
Living at the bottom of the caste system, the only way Kid knows how to breathe is by fighting. Kid lives on revenge. He needs to find Rana (Sikandar Kher), the chief of police who brutally killed his mother. He gets to him pretty fast in the film but fails. So he tries again. The second time, is he successful? Watch the movie to see.
Typically, I advise avoiding trailers for movies. They give away the best parts of the film while also spoiling some of the big reveals in the plot. When Monkey Man starts we're not aware it's a revenge tale. That's something that's revealed midway through the plot. If you've seen the trailer, then you're aware going into the film that Kid is on a mission to avenge his mother.
The ride the film takes you on is a thrilling one with some bumps along the way. Although the film has a story with a deeper meaning, it's not what you're likely paying money to see the movie for. You want to see it for the action. And let me tell you, the action is a mixed bag. Most of the sequences are incredibly impressive. The camera stays wide as you can see each hit being taken. It's an homage to the classic Bruce Lee kung fu movies where the camera didn't cut during the action. It stayed on a two-shot master angle like you were watching a real fight.
That style was carried over in The Matrix and John Wick. The movie ironically makes a reference to John Wick when Kid is browsing through a collection of guns. Is Monkey Man's action better than John Wick? I would argue it's not. It gets close. There's a particular overhead fighting scene that resembles John Wick Chapter 4's birds eye view battle. But still doesn't hold a candle to Mr. Wick's fight.
There are scenes that cut frantically, coming across more like a Jason Bourne film than John Wick. During these instances it reminds me that this is a director's first debut where he's just learning how to film action. Filmmaking is an organic process. If you look at the action in Tenant compared to Batman Begins, the difference in execution is night and day. You can see that action is a process directors like Christoper Nolan had to extensivley learn. In just one movie, Dev Patel pulled off action better than a directing legend.
There are some fight scenes where the camera moves too much, and the editing is all over the place. It can be jarring as it feels like two directors choreographed and shot-listed the same movie. Regardless, the action overall is very good. What makes the action all the better is that Kid is vulnerable. He's not a Steven Seagal, untouchable juggernaut. Kid gets hurt to the point where we wonder if he'll be okay. By having a vulnerable hero, the stakes are considerably raised.
What impresses me the most with this film is how Dev Patel can act in front of the camera while working behind it. That's a compliment most actors/directors get, but this one especially checks out. Patel not only has to act he must also learn the choreographing for each highly complicated action scene. Then he has to plan on how he'll shoot and block it.
How Patel can juggle so many tasks at once is commendable. Monkey Man may not be a perfect action movie, but it's far from a forgettable one. It's not only a very good directorial debut, but it's also an excellent action movie that you'd swear was made by an experienced filmmaker. I look forward to what Dev Patel has planned for the future.
