Monkey Man
Hanuman's quest for self-realization is one of many subtexts that seek to elevate the basic revenge narrative of "Monkey Man," Patel's fascinatingly frenetic and visceral directorial debut. Patel also stars as Kid, a young man trying to make a living in the Mumbai-esque city of Yatana as a monkey-masked fighter in an underground boxing club. Kid is traumatized by flashbacks of his mother's murder and the razing of his childhood home by corrupt, rich elites who want to force out the villagers and acquire the land. Kid is driven almost exclusively by thoughts of revenge; he gets his body in shape in the ring while also getting a job in the kitchen of a luxury brothel that provides drugs and prostitutes to wealthy clients, including the people responsible for the death of his mother.
On its surface, it's a simple, violent tale of payback in the same vein as the recent "John Wick" movies. Patel, already a wonderfully talented actor, shows that he is more than up to the physical challenge of a number of wonderfully choreographed and tremendously brutal fight sequences. Unlike the Wick movies and other modern action fare, Patel also decides to use mostly handheld cameras to capture the action, resulting in much rougher, shakier visuals. This approach is often disorienting enough, but Patel also utilizes a hyperactive editing approach throughout that never lingers on a single shot for more than a few seconds at most. To the filmmakers' credit, the action is never particularly difficult to follow, but it's hard not to feel a little sensory overload at times, oddly enough when there isn't any fighting going on.
The movie also suffers slightly from being overstuffed with ideas, often a common complaint against projects from first-time directors who can hardly seem to contain all the ideas they've been collecting for their entire lives. The eat-the-rich themes are common enough these days, but "Monkey Man" specifically takes shots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's India and the way it treats the underclass. Patel intentionally shoots images of the crowded and broken streets of India and the downtrodden faces of the people inhabiting them, positioning Kid as the rising hero of the underprivileged on a path of destruction against the politicians who have failed them.
You don't need to understand the politics of India to get the basics of what Patel is going for here. However, it is interesting to note the juxtaposition of righteous violence with a spiritual hero's journey. I won't pretend to know enough about the tenets of the religion to make the claim that the movie is an example of fiction "weaponizing Hinduism," but it is a point worth thinking about.
The movie slows down in its second half after Kid's first attempts at offing his targets is met with failure. He is taken in by a clan of folks who nurse him back to fighting form, complete with a fun variation of the classic training montage set to the encouraging rhythms of renowned tabla drummer Zakir Hussein. This clan is a welcome representation of India's hijra community (called the third gender in India), consisting of gender non-conforming people and trans women. Patel includes this community as another example of a group of people being marginalized and oppressed by the ruling class, and Kid's war for the good and the just is a war being fought for them as well.
There's a lot going on here for a relatively simple story, which is a welcome change from the typical braindead CGI-fests we usually get in the action genre. Patel is clearly a talent behind the camera (and no doubt in front of a camera as well), and it will be interesting to see where his career goes from here. "Monkey Man" certainly has a lot (if not too much) to say, and a distinct visual language that sets it apart from its peers. If Patel can refine his approach in future efforts, he could create something really special.
