While Monkey Man is a good action thriller, it is obvious that it could be better.

Dev Patel will undoubtedly helm a fantastic film one day. Monkey Man, a furious action-revenge thriller that is better known for its daring editing and incredibly brutal, up-close-and-frightful battle scenes than for its plot, its attempts at political resonance, or any nuanced portrayal of its protagonist, shows that he obviously possesses the talent. Naturally, if these other factors weren't important to the film, they wouldn't matter at all. Monkey Man is an action movie that's usually really fun, but it constantly takes your attention away with scenes from the movie that it's attempting—and frequently failing—to be

The movie itself, which both directly and indirectly alludes to Chad Stahelski and David Leitch's now-famous Keanu Reeves vengeance shoot-'em-up, will encourage comparisons between Monkey Man and John Wick. (It also makes references to a plethora of action movies from Hong Kong, Indonesia, and India, as well as a handful of vaguely remembered straight-to-video flicks.) However, this time around, the main character isn't an infamously cold-blooded killer. A bare-knuckles boxer in an ape mask, Kid (Patel) is known primarily for getting the shit beat out of him by bigger, stronger, better fighters. He is a helpless, impetuous nothing. However, he is also passing the time in Yatana, a fictitious version of Mumbai, in an attempt to draw closer to the top echelons of authority.

We soon learn that the Kid's real objective is Queenie Kapoor (Ashwini Kalsekar), a restaurant, pimp, and dealer who offers a variety of less-than-scrupulous services to the affluent. He harbors a deep-seated grudge against the city's police chief, Sikandar Kher, who happens to be closely associated with the Sovereign Party, a Hindu nationalist group headed by a self-styled guru by the name of Baba Shakti (Makarand Deshpande), who appears to lead a modest life but is in reality just another religious hypocrite. (The movie's Sovereign Party bears a striking real-life similarity to the reigning Bharatiya Janata Party in India.) As a result, there may be some censorship and release issues for the picture in that country, especially as elections approach.

We find out that the Kid's adored mother, Adithi Kalkunte, was slain when authorities forcibly removed a group of people from their woodland home. The past is revealed throughout the movie in dreamlike drips and drabs, but we already know what it is around halfway through; the graphic and painful facts are all that remain. There are also many endearing flashbacks in which our little hero is taught by his mother the customs of the forest, grows to admire the bravery of the monkey god Hanuman, and dreams of becoming just like him.

My colleague Siddhant Adlakha has written about the unsettling consequences of the movie's use of strong religious imagery in its story of justified violence in other places. Even though this isn't the first action movie to target the powerful while partaking in the very mythologies those in positions of power like to exploit—just ask anyone who grew up in the 1980s—what makes Monkey Man unique is how frequently Patel cuts to scenes featuring dream sequences, historical paintings, his protagonist praying, and one that seems to imply that our hero is actually turning into Hanuman, or at the very least gaining his power from the monkey god.

Patel appears keen to take his genre-specific thriller to a higher level of spiritual gravity and deeper meaning. Which is unfortunate because he has created a genre potboiler that is otherwise excellent. Because the hero isn't very skilled at fighting, at least not at first, Monkey Man's close-quarters action scenes—which feature eye-gouging, nut-punching, head-smashing, and what must be a world record for throat-stabbings—have a pleasant immediacy. It everything comes together to create a delightfully chaotic experience, including the rhythmic cutting, the eclectically poppy score, and the bright color scheme.

The actor Dev Patel is absent from the film, and I find it hard to believe I'm writing this. He is an incredibly gifted leading guy who combines presence and range in a remarkable way. All of this was on full show in the now-forgotten Michael Winterbottom action-romance The Wedding Guest from 2019, which demonstrated that Patel could be a genre lead by fusing his signature charisma and depth with a seductive physique. In Monkey Man, he exhibits even greater physicality, and it's obvious that he put a great deal of effort into perfecting these action sequences in his roles as director and performer. However, Patel's face is barely seen in this fast-paced, highly stylized movie.The film isn't completely devoid of emotion, since the flashback structure, complete with its unceasing temporal jumps, terrifying images, and musical interludes, handles much of the character's emotional work. However, something seems to have been lost in the rush to find physical thrills: a sense of inner life or depth. And no, it's not all made up for by the abundance of spiritual imagery.

To be fair, action movies frequently use this technique. Arnold Schwarzenegger was a cold-blooded killer; Keanu Reeves's character, John Wick, was stoic to the point of absurdity; and Liam Neeson's characters suffer subtly. When they work at their best, those single notes become symphonies of mayhem in the flicks. However, it's obvious that Monkey Man wants something more—something transcendent and significant. Furthermore, it seems wasteful not to use the lead actor given his exceptional talent. It would be a good idea for someone to tell Dev Patel, the filmmaker, that he is also an actor with much more potential.