Dev Patel is the monkey man. The famous actor known for Slumdog Millionaire makes his directorial debut in Monkey Man, an action thriller full of fights and myths!
Inspired
Monkey Man deliberately evokes John Wick style of action, in which a man, driven by revenge, takes charge to bring down a criminal empire. Kid, the protagonist played by a prepared and Dev Patel recalls occasionally “The Raid”, thanks to the Indian dark setting and the bloody fight scenes. The tributes to Bruce Lee are evident, especially the fight sequence with the mirrors, homage to Enter the Dragon.
Brutal like a monkey
The mind behind Monkey is entirely Dev Patel, his full commitment bring him for the first time showing his skills as a martial artist, the result is a rude kick boxing, contaminated with a little of Taekwondo, in which the actor has a solid background. The fighting style actually, really looks kind of emotional and animalistic, resembling the monkey myth of the film, or better the legendary Indian deity Hanuman, in which the movie is based for the plot. It is evident that all the fighting scene are driven by the heart of Patel, focusing on the emotion, leaving aside the technique.
The birth of a new legend?
Monkey Man is making an impact to the audience similar to Oldboy, that made it more than twenty years ago, telling a vengeance story in an actual and non-obvious way. Hoping to see Patel delivering more action movies and maybe to direct a martial art movie about Kalaripayattu could be the perfect timing, imagining him working similarly to Gareth Evans when he discovered Iko Uwais and promoted silat to the world.
Dev Patel is the monkey man, what do you think about the movie? Did you have the chance to watched it?