You know who should direct Mumbai’s John Wick? The Slumdog Millionaire kid. Dev Patel has come a long way since Skins and his Oscar winning movie, turning into a pretty great actor along way. Jordan Peele must have seen something in him, producing Monkey Man, Patel’s first directorial feature. And outside of the greats like Greta Gerwig, Ryan Coogler, and Patel’s mentor Peele himself, this is one the great first features from a director in some time: kicking ass…with style!
When we meet “Bobby” (Dev Patel, but we never know his real name), he’s on a singular mission of some kind. Living in the slums of Mumbai, Bobby works seemingly dead end jobs like getting beat up for money at Tiger’s (Sharlto Copley) underground fighting ring, or working as a grunt in Queenie’s (Ashwini Kalsekar) restaurant. All this is purposeful, as he tries to work his way to the top of the crime syndicate, to eventually take down political leader Baba Shakti (Makarand Deshpande) and his head of police Rana (Sikandar Kher) for what they’ve done to Bobby when he was a boy.
Dev Patel has grown up in the movie industry, and was lucky enough to world hop along the way. His film reflects his upbringing, a Tarantino like pasting together of various pieces of genres across the planet. Bollywood’s influence is there for sure, based on setting and some of the religious/mystic stories that fill in the world building. Hollywood plays its part as well; Monkey Man’s story is basically a Blaxploitation one: about a poor individual who has to take down a corrupt organization from the bottom up. While the movie was pitched as Mumbai’s John Wick, the movie was shot in Indonesia, and has more in common with those visceral Raid action films. And finally, there’s pieces of Guy Ritchie from Patel’s native UK: low level types content to live in their little crime worlds and make their living. Patel uses this remixing as well in his music choices, modernizing songs like Roxanne into the modern age to fit his very modern movie.
The result? Something that feels familiar and original at the same time. What’s surprising is how polished Dev Patel already is as a director. He’s got an incredible eye for a beautiful shot despite the gritty violence, such as a slo-mo of a fish tank exploding, making a disgusting river shockingly beautiful, and a final fight modernizing and electrifying a legendary action moment. His version of a montage wholly fits his story, using the sounds of Mumbai to jack up the audience and give a little character development along the way. The chase sequences are wonderfully India specific, using tuk-tuks and shack rooftops to great effect. Finally, the fighting sequences never feel the same: each one is built around who Bobby is at the time. So if he is unsure and scared, the fighting style is more passive with the camera more quick cutting and jittery, taking beatings but still getting back up, while later fights are more sure handedly directed as Bobby has fully discovered his purpose.
Monkey Man is more proof that we’re in this action movie Renaissance, probably since The Raid Redemption in 2012. World cinema has fused with modern style to create some of the best new takes on action movies since the rip roaring 1980s/90s. I mean two Raids. John Wick. Mad Max: Fury Road. Polite Society. Prey. Mission Impossibles. Top Gun: Maverick. The Northman. The Woman King. RRR. Everything Everywhere All At Once. That’s like 1-2 great action films a year, bringing something exciting and new to the table! And now I have to throw Monkey Man in there, with Furiosa on the way! Hell yeah! Bring it on!