Studio: Universal Pictures
Release Date: 6/25/2024
Rating: R
Film Grade: C+
The Story: Meet Kid, a man from the streets of a city in India. He eeks out a meager living buy fighting in the ring as The Beast, wearing a monkey mask and getting his tail kicked in almost every match.
But Kid has bigger plans in mind as he conjures up an elaborate plan to gain employment at a high-end hotel that also happens to be a front for the rich, powerful, and corrupt. Aided by an unlikely group of allies, Kid takes action, propelled by sheer will and physical training.
My Take: It’s easy to dismiss this movie as simply an Indian version of John Wick (one of the characters even references the character at one point). And, while there are some similarities, they’re mostly superficial. Yes, there are a lot of choreographed fights, and it’s largely a revenge story. In contrast, this movie incorporates an ancient spiritual element rather than crafting a modern mythological setting. There is a hidden society, but it’s not one with its own carefully crafted fictional rules and background.
Monkey Man takes those typical tropes and adds on some social commentary. How that hits the viewer will vary. For me, the movie spent too much time dwelling on those themes. After the third or fourth thematically repetitive segment, it was high time to push the plot forward rather than forced reflection.
Dev Patel worked on this story for almost a decade and cowrote the script with Paul Angunawela and John Collee. He also makes his feature directorial debut and stars as Kid. He deserves credit here; it’s an ambitious first movie. As Kid, he’s singularly minded, and there isn’t much depth to the character. He pals up with Pitobash, who adds a lighthearted dose of humor to the affair, but with his own twinges of sadness. At first it seems like his character is only there for amusement, but he actually adds more depth to the role than one would expect. And Sharlto Copley plays the underground fight promoter/ring man with hammy delight. There are a lot of characters in this movie, some realistically portrayed, others lean more toward caricature.
Visuals: The movie takes place in a wide variety of locations, including a jungle, high-end hotel, slums, underground arena, hidden ruins. Originally planned to be shot in India, production was moved to Indonesia due to Covid restrictions. Each setting is captured in detail, with images that contrast glamour and grime, nature and construct, beauty and blemish. Colors are rich and vibrant when needed and dull and muted as called for. Dark tones are prevalent and discernable.
The camera work is often active. My wife is easily susceptible to motion sickness and there were parts of the movie that were almost too much for her. Overall, this is a well-shot film.
Audio: Yes, we get another Atmos mix on a Blu-ray disc! But it’s weird. The bed layer sounds are actually quite good and involving, with spatial cues and some envelopment. But the treatment of the tops is strange, with the vast majority of it being used for voices. This makes sense for some scenes, such as the arena where you would expect an announcer’s dialog to come from overhead PA speakers. But then there’s a helicopter scene where the voice from the crew’s loudspeaker is heard, but the blades are silent. There are other opportunities for the tops that go unused.
The score is an eclectic mix of orchestral, Indian pop, heavy metal, and drums. It works well with the movie, providing a different feel for the varied places and plot elements. The dialog is mostly spoken in English, and while it’s clear, my wife and I did have some trouble with the accents. There are subtitles for the non-English dialog.
Special Features: There’s a good amount of information here for those interested in diving deeper into the film.
- Alternate Opening
- Alternate Ending
- Deleted/Extended Scenes
- Post Credit Button
- A Labor of Love
- Monkey Man of Action
- Fateful
- Roots Exposed
- Feature Commentary
Final Verdict: While it’s about 10-15 minutes too long, Monkey Man is worth a watch for people who enjoy action movies. The addition of cultural and spiritual flavors gives the audience a new perspective on an old genre.
For me, this was more of a one and done, and I don’t see the movie having much replay value. The story isn’t deep enough that it would reward reflection on repeat viewings, and it’s not on the top-tier end of the action movie offerings. That said, I can see some people really loving the setting, characters, and themes. I’d recommend renting it first rather than as a blind buy.
Fun Fact: Dev Patel pitched the movie to Neill Blomkamp, but he suggested that Patel should direct it himself due to how personally connected he was to the story.
My Review System:JVC DLA-RS3100 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
Elite Screens Sable Frame B2 117” Width with Infinitely Variable Height
Monolith by Monoprice HTP-1 16 Channel Processor with Dirac Live
Monolith by Monoprice 7x200 Watts Amp
Monolith by Monoprice 3x200 Watts + 6x100 Watts Amp
JBL Studio 590 for Left, Center, Right, Wides, and Rears
JBL Studio 580 for Side Surrounds
JBL Studio SCS 8 for Tops
JTR Captivator 1400 Subwoofer X 4
Panasonic DP-UB420 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
Oppo BDP-93
NVIDIA Shield Android TV - 4K
Xbox One X
HTPC Running madVR (work in progress)
Remote: URC MX-780
Mini DSP 2X4 HD controlling all subwoofers
APC S15 Power Conditioner with Battery Backup
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