REVIEW:
Monkey Man is not a very good movie. It’s a simple movie about a man seeking vengeance for those who wronged him and his family when he was a child. Now, we’ve seen plenty of vengeance, action films, from the Crow to Kill Bill. These movies might have generally simple plots, but they need to find an angle to meme them different. A niche. Monkey Msn doesn’t really have that.
Sure, there’s the India setting and political atmosphere, but the action is so routine and uneventful that it detracts from the film. The trailer for the movie features a kitchen fight and makes it look like John Wick. But this is no John Wick. Those movies were about style and choreography. This one doesn’t seem to care about either of those things.
Regarding the action, everything is hand held and choppy. It’s a technique that isn’t really used anymore these days, and this movie definitely shows us why. Everything is choppy and hard to follow. Add that to a pretty routine story, and theres not a whole lot here that is new or worthwhile. Yes, the film shows some talent by first time director Dev Patel (who is also the star,) but it also shows that he has a lot of room to grow.