GoMovieReview Rating: ★★★★
Rated: MA15+
Directed by: Dev Patel
Story by: Dev Patel
Screenplay Written by: Dev Patel and Paul Angunawela and John Collee
Produced by: Dev Patel, Jomon Thomas, Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld, Ian Cooper, Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, Christine Haebler, Anjay Nagpal
Starring: Dev Patel, Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Vipin Sharma, Sikandar Kher, Sobhita Dhulipala, Ashwini Kalsekar, Adithi Kalkunte, Makarand Deshpande.
‘It’s time to remember who you are.’
With red font and the stance of a menacing man holding a knife, I was expecting blood in Dev Patel’s directional debut. And Monkey Man did not disappoint. There is just the right amount of bloody action here that builds throughout the film.
Also starring, this is a different style to Patel’s previous roles, notably, Lion (2016) and Slumdog Millionaire (2008).
As Monkey Man, he still has those soulful eyes, here to echo the tragedy of his childhood, losing his parents and home during a land grab, a reclaiming of his parents and fellow farmers’ land for spiritual purposes. But really, for dodgy deeds by a conducted by a corrupt guru backing bent police and the soon to be elected Sovereign Party.
Here, those soulful eyes reflect fire while his hands drip with blood.
The film opens with the legend of Hanuman, told by Monkey Man’s mother (Adithi Kalkunte) when he was a child.
Hanuman was very hungry.
A spell was cast.
He saw a shiny mango up in the sky.
Hanuman flew to grab the mango only to discover it was the sun.
So the Gods punished him. Took his power.
Then the film cuts to Monkey Man fighting in an underground fight club. The men wear masks. Monkey Man wears a gorilla mask, like he’s Hanuman without his power.
The crowd roars, stamping their feet.
The manager (Sharlto Copley) tells him, ‘They fucking hate you.’
But Monkey Man doesn’t care.
If he bleeds, he gets the blood bonus.
And he needs money so he can buy a gun.
And he needs a gun to take revenge.
To get revenge he must get access to those who slaughtered his family to steal their land.
And to get access he needs to get a job at, Kings; a restaurant and club for the rich and powerful where drinks, women and drugs are served without question.
The film is a study in colour, the club drenched in red light, the film set in Mumbai (but filmed in Indonesia); a city that lends a vibrant backdrop to the constant shifting and refocussed camera work.
What stood out was the handheld cam moments, following a dog through the streets, the theft of a purse followed through a dozen hands like a cleverly orchestrated ballet.
Then the flow stops, the soundtrack lifts (fantastic soundtrack!) for a moment, breath held, before the abrupt return to the action where the jolting camera makes the movement feel like desperation.
There’s a lot of thought put into each scene, with a definite beginning, middle and end to the storyline – for me the beginning and end amazing, the transition of Monkey Man in the middle gets lost. Like a Rocky transformation that jars with the tone of the rest of the film because what comes at the beginning and end feels unique – the transformation felt like a loss of confidence, harking back to what has already been done before. But I get the necessary transition before the… Revenge.
‘You need to destroy in order to grow, to create space in your life.’
And Monkey Man is definitely a revenge film with the added difference of the legend of Hanuman at the storyline’s foundation.
The Gods took his power and then Monkey Man took it back.
