Movie critic Bruce Miller says "Monkey Man" never sits still. The film is full of extreme close-up shots which are impossible to ignore and, often, easy to misread.
Watch “Monkey Man” on a cellphone or an iPad and you’ll see that’s how director Dev Patel envisioned it.
Otherwise, how do you explain the tight close-ups?
Almost claustrophobic in approach, the action film goes in for the kill repeatedly. When it’s not, it’s rushing through subtitles that explain what’s happening.
In short, there’s no time to rest.
Patel plays a masked fighter (thus the film’s title) who earns money taking falls for others. He’s also a smart worker who worms his way into situations that will get him into proximity with power.
Alternating current events with his childhood, Patel paves the way for a “John Wick”-like story of revenge. (And, yes, there’s even a dog here.)
“Monkey Man,” however, is eager to dissect the class system in India and show how an impressionable boy can be driven to do just about anything.
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While others slip in and out of focus, Patel’s “Kid” holds the attention, cleaning floors, refining his body, and stalking a group of moneyed men who have a connection to his past. He wears the mask when fighting, looks like a suave spy when he’s toiling in a VIP club.
Dev Patel stars in "Monkey Man."
Ewet Akhirwan Nurhaidir, Universal Pictures
Patel, the director, assumes we’ll catch up as he races through hallways, garages and streets.
“Monkey Man” doesn’t indicate where specifically it’s set but it does show a much different India than other films. No Bollywood happiness here, just a lot of people on the take, pretending to work in the best interests of others.
As an action film, “Monkey Man” is quite good. Patel doesn’t skimp on the action, but he also doesn’t pull back far enough to show the stunt work.
As an action hero, he’s every bit as measured as Keanu Reeves and Liam Neeson.
He has a nifty way of gaining entrance to the secured floors and a way with pots and pans that would make Bobby Flay weep. His flashbacks provide the necessary context but, they, too, could have been slowed so the story could resonate. We don’t get the children’s book connections until it’s too late to savor them. More time up front (setting the scene with his mother) could have made the ending even better.
As a director, Patel shows great promise. He isn’t afraid to improvise (he broke his hand during the first action sequence) or mix things up.
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