Starring, written, produced and directed by Dev Patel, who also wrote and sung the theme tune. Screenplay also by Paul Angunawela and John Collee. Also starring Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Sobhita Dhulipala, Sikandar Kher, Vipin Sharma, Ashwini Kalsekar, Adithi Kalkunte and Makarand Deshpande. Running time 121 minutes.
I blame Liam Nelson for creating a sub-genre of 'Unlikely Action Hero', well him and Keanu Reeves' John Wick franchise. Monkey Man sees scrawny 'unlikely action hero' Dev Patel as 'the Kid', a mysterious young man on a revenge quest to hunt-down a group of men who killed his mum. To become the supreme man of action he needs to be to kill his enemy he dons a monkey mask and allows himself to be beaten to a pulp mercilessly in a weekly fighting bout to hone his fighting skills, whilst working as a busboy in a swanky bar to hone up on his dishwashing abilities. Naturally our plucky hero has to reach rock bottom before he can fight his way to the top and when the ubiquitous training montage finally turns up you can't but sigh in relief, although then you have to sit through what happened to his mother. Still, it's all grist for the mill for our ripped and honed hero has he sets out to Kill his Bill, so to speak, or Bills in this case.
Filmed in EXTREME CLOSE UP for nearly all of its run time and featuring an incredible number of sweaty lank haired men, this is the only film I've ever seen where you get to recognise the characters not by their faces but by their nose hairs.
Hats off to Dev Patel who did everything on this film short of picking up all the actors and driving them to the set each morning. It's obvious he had a singular vision and decided to run with it. He creates a deeply brutal and savage world filled with corrupt ugly women hating men and women hating women who exploit all in their quest for greed and power.
It's hot, sweaty, nasty, too long and really not my cup of tea anymore, I prefer my revenge thrillers to be a little less bleak if I'm honest.
Can't fault Patel's passion or skill, though.
7/10
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