Actor Dev Patel, who won over audiences around the globe in Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, is flexing his muscles by co-writing, directing, and starring in Monkey Man. By diving into Indian culture, myths, and traditions he attempts to ground his brutal story in something more substantive than mere escapist entertainment. His title character is a wrestler who wears a monkey mask in the ring but feels alienated from a society that lionizes a corrupt government. He wants to do his part to set things right.
What emerges is a relentless series of ultraviolent fight scenes with no redeeming qualities. “Remember who you are,” he is advised at a crucial point in the story. What he remembers is seeing his beloved mother raped and tortured by a vicious police captain. Monkey Man is nothing more than a two-hour hyperenergetic martial arts revenge thriller with a superficial coating of mysticism.
The first-time director has done his homework on how to make every blow, every crash through a window pane, every mirror-shot pay off, visually and aurally. Filmed in Indonesia, home of The Raid and other eye-gouging action yarns, Patel has called on every trick of the trade. Genre fans may disagree but I would rather see an in-your-face action yarn than one that pretends to be something more…and doesn’t know when to quit.