Monkey Man, the ultraviolent monkey movie

Filmed at the height of the COVID pandemic, and even before RRR became the success, the milestone for Indian cinema in its export to the West, Monkey Man marks the directorial debut of actor Dev Patel (the boy from Slumdog Millionaire) in a film that was about to be released by Netflix streaming, but director and producer Jordan Peele (Flees!) and Universal achieved a worldwide theatrical release.

And it was filmed in Mumbai and Indonesia and does not have many well-known faces: in addition to the director and star, Sharlto Copley appears (Sector 9 and the movie Brigade A).

So?

What you will have seen in Monkey Man, in addition to being a story of revenge, is a realization, a visual display, an unusual way of using the camera. Of course, the film would have benefited from a stronger script.

But Monkey Man It has its twist(s).

Kid (Dev Patel) makes a living entering a wrestling ring in Mumbai, usually letting himself be beaten and taking tremendous beatings. He does so as the film’s title, Ape Man, indicates: he wears a mask, inspired by the Hindu myth of Hanuman (a being who is half man and half ape).

But what moves Kid intimately is revenge. The film takes its time to make clear which death he wants to avenge, while Kid moves up the ladder of a restaurant where he goes to work after a ruse. He is first in the kitchen, until a manager (Pitobash) discovers that Kid has money for something else.

Monkey Man, we said, it is a revenge film. Kid seems to want to attack the rich, whether they are politicians or not, in the exclusive Kings club, where men take advantage of women, consume alcohol and drugs.

Attractive visual style

AND Monkey Man, we also mentioned, has a visual style that makes it attractive, and perhaps, with luck, in one of those, it manages to balance the simplicity of its plot. It does so with a share of unleashed violence, the anger of the protagonist and a spill of blood and broken bones that can upset more or less sensitive viewers.

Patel debuts as a director with this film, and he does it knowing what he is doing: he films a virulent, aggressive, intense action film, with good choreography of the hand-to-hand fights – inside or outside the ring – and the help behind the camera by Sharone Meir, director of photography Whiplash.

The film has a break, and that occurs when Kid transforms, more or less halfway through the protection.

And another plus point is the work of Patel’s editors, Dávid Jancsó (Fragments of a woman) and Tim Murrell (the recent miniseries A Gentleman in Moscow), who knew how to ensure that the action scenes were as precise as possible in the editing. And fast.

“Monkey Man”

Good

Action. United States, 2024. 121′, SAM 16 R. Of: Dev Patel. With: Dev Patel, Sharlto Copley, Sobhita Dhulipala, Pitobash. Rooms: Cinemark Palermo, Hoyts Unicenter, Cinépolis Recoleta, Showcase Belgrano and Haedo.