Review: Monkey Man

Monkey Man is directed by Dev Patel who also plays the lead role of a young mad on a campaign of vengeance against the corrupt leaders who murdered his mother and continue to oppress the community.

 

I first saw Dev Patel in Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire and he was amazing there and even better here. His performance in monkey man is awesome — he’s charming suave, emotionally leaked and most of all a talented action star who can really lead a high-tension fight scene with the seriousness and sentimental weight he puts behind it and the physicality he displays too.

 

Patel’s directing is outstanding. It’s intimate, incredibly frenetic, warm colors, dynamic camera angles and finely tuned editing that builds tension and immersion in an outstanding way.

Patel sets the film in these incredibly vibrant and unique locations spanning poor neighbourhood slums all the way to the very top of the most extravagant nightclubs filled with criminals and corruption. And this gives the story a real legitimacy. These places feel lived in, they feel viscerally real.

 

Patel is often placing the camera in very claustrophobic spaces, lots of closeup shots, with low contrast, soft lighting that make things feel really confined, scary and nightmarish. There’s a strong purple and red neon color pallets throughout that feels warm but also grimy and dizzying at times.

 

The story is gripping at every moment and emotionally driven as well. We learn through a combination of flashbacks and cross-cutting that this is a personal moral crusade for Dev’s character — who is fighting to avenge his mother who was murdered by the corrupt individuals who continue to perpetuate injustice and political discrimination.

The movie has quite a strong commentary and political influence on the contextual economic and social divides and this drive the thematic core of the film quite strongly.

The editing and sound is also key here – there’s very frenetic editing, with cross cutting and montage that give this unpredictable and non-stop pace which heightens your anxiety and brings you into the chaos of the action.

And this reaches a crescendo right in the middle of the film where a crucial fight scene turns into a chase scene, then a car chase, and just continues for like a 10 minute action sequence that almost feel like it’s one continuous shot. Every minute it’s the stakes by quickening the pace and increasing the obstacles –– and the violence is brutal, and fast, and it feels personal.

The score also deserves a shoutout, there’s this drumbeat set to the pace the running and fighting and combined with Patel’s ability to move the camera in these dynamic ways it really throws you into the action. You’re going up stairways, across hallways, following cars as they make 360 degree turns. It’s amazing to watch and there’s some clear influences from Korean action cinema here, things like The Villainess, As Tears Go By, Oldboy. If you like street level crime movies that sweep across neon draped streets then you’ll love this movie.

I was beyond impressed with Monkey Man. It has such a strong personality and style and the story delivers emotional and political beats all while having some of the most inventive action and direction in any movie right now.

Share this post

Related posts