Patel\u2019s story (co-scripted with Paul Angunawela and John Collee) is inspired by the story of Hanuman, an Indian icon representing courage and strength. Hanuman is the monkey man of the title \u2014 or maybe it\u2019s Patel, as \u201cKid,\u201d who spends night after night taking beatings as an underground fighter, wearing a gorilla mask in the ring (which can\u2019t be ideal, at the very least in terms of peripheral vision). But this isn\u2019t his endgame; he fights to improve his abilities, all while working his way in (and up) to an amoral underworld. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We spend much of the early sections not knowing exactly what he\u2019s up to \u2014 just that he\u2019s up to something \u2014 and the full scale of his mission and motivation will be explained by our old, tired friend, the Gradually Revealed Flashback. That trope aside, Patel\u2019s direction is sure-handed enough to build momentum, even when you\u2019re not sure where he\u2019s going; he doesn\u2019t rush into his first big action beat (it arrives somewhere around the 45-minute mark), but it\u2019s worth the wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It involves his first attempt to exact his revenge against an evil, corrupt police chief, and the best thing about the sequence is that it doesn\u2019t go according to plan \u2014 he\u2019s not a super-assassin (not yet, anyway), he\u2019s not John Wick, he\u2019s in way over his head, and he has to improvise, relying on his wits instead of brawn. It\u2019s a tightly-constructed powerhouse of a set piece, and represents a risky tempo shift; the first act simmers, then roars to a boil, so it\u2019s a bit difficult to downshift after that. But it comes back to life in the third act, which is basically non-stop action, and that sense of improvisation stays with him once he has<\/em> become semi-unstoppable (there\u2019s as much clever, found weapon work as in anything this side of Jackie Chan.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The visual style is hyperactive and energetic, and the fights are fast and ferocious, if occasionally stymied by the weightlessness of the digital effects work (CGI blood is just never going to look like anything but CGI blood, sorry if this offends!). Patel is one of the most empathetic actors we\u2019ve got, so we\u2019re with him throughout his journey, and the supporting cast (which includes Pitobash, Vipin Sharma, Sikandar Kher, and Sobhita Dhulipala) meshes smoothly; even Sharlto Copley is good, a sentence I wasn\u2019t ever sure I\u2019d type again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But a sense of overkill sets in well before the picture\u2019s conclusion \u2014 the plotting just a bit too busy, a couple of subplots too many, and a real real question of if Patel\u2019s cool-guy-killer tale can withstand a poorly chosen scene of sexual violence without toppling over. That scene embodies the primary issue here, which is that Patel doesn\u2019t really know when to quit; by the end, it\u2019s become so brutal, so relentlessly grim, that the catharsis that typically accompanies the conclusion of an action flick like this is absent \u2014 and missed. I saw the film at SXSW\u2019s largest venue, an ideal showcase for a movie like this, and by its conclusion, even that<\/em> audience seemed exhausted by it. The borderline nihilism of the conclusion co-exists uneasily with the warmly nostalgic childhood flashbacks and the professions of faith that he attempts to trot back out, and it just doesn\u2019t quite mix, a stew where you taste too many of the too-tart ingredients. With Monkey Man<\/em>, Patel shows himself a filmmaker of genuine skill. Once he learns some restraint, he could really be something else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Monkey Man” is in theaters tonight.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/monkey-man2-1024x573.jpg\")
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