Monkey Man - A Movie Review

Never give up the greatest fight to make yourself seen.

Monkey Man is a 2024 film. An anonymous young man unleashes a campaign of vengeance against corrupt leaders who murdered his mother and continue to victimize his people. Kid refuses to let them win until power is regained.

Don’t you love it when you and your friend have the entire movie theater to yourselves? We made all the commentary we wanted during Monkey Man and it was a blast. Monkey Man is a well-directed film with incredible technical work, but it gets lost in its storytelling, providing little character depth.

Dev Patel wrote, directed, and starred in Monkey Man. Patel accomplishes tremendous achievements in his directorial debut. With all the hats he wore, Patel paid too much attention to the technical work than his character. Patel is captivating as Kid navigates but could have offered more depth, providing a stronger emotional anchor amidst the action.

Not just his character but he needed to involve side characters more. Pitobash (Alphonso) is the funniest side character. His character is somewhat cartoonish with his personality. He brandished a rather small getaway car, which had us laughing. More credits include Sharlto Copley, Jatik Malik, Sikander Kher, Sobhita Dhulipala, and Vipin Sharma.

The visual technical work is the most amazing part, incorporating effects not seen in other films. He immerses the audience in this world. My eyes were glued to the screen watching every camera pan, creative edit, and fight scene. I never would have realized that some scenes were filmed on an iphone!

Get ready for the most epic fight scenes you will ever see in a movie. This is where Patel's direction shines. Bollywood and Bruce Lee were his main inspirations to make this movie. I hope a stunt award category is made because Monkey Man deserves a spot. The kills are very graphic, including new techniques.

Patel approached the action sequences like no director has done before. In his directorial debut, Patel demonstrates his keen eye for the role. As he remarked, he added soul to make the fight scenes something audiences have never seen. Patel is mastered in taekwondo and got pretty banged up during filming. During filming, he injured his hand, toes, and garnered an eye infection.

Monkey Man is loaded with fight scenes. As styled and well-choreographed as they are, the story gets lost. This is supposed to be Kid’s revenge against the people who murdered his mother, but the story is missing. The fights also become comical, like in one scene where Kid bears a knife with his mouth and the kill goes on longer than anticipated.

The story is overlooked by the fight scenes, which become redundant. My friend commented that the film resembled a video game with the more villains that appeared. Monkey Man has great elements, but the plot doesn’t converge with the story I was expecting. All these fight scenes were more important than learning about Kid’s heritage or background?

We needed more layers to understand this character. Patel had an intriguing vision, but the film was tough to follow, particularly in the third act. There are fascinating story elements that are overshadowed by flashbacks or the fight scenes. I’m impressed with Patel’s debut and I look forward to seeing what else he does in the future.

That doesn’t mean you should skip out on watching it because there’s a lot to analyze and dissect from the script. Once it is streaming check out Monkey Man. A film with immense technical work like this should not go unnoticed.