I always love it when I get to see a creator who is on the rise, and you know will have even greater things coming down the pipe. This was the case as I sat in the theater watching Monkey man. I first saw Dev Patel in the newsroom, and he was a good actor in a minor role, but he did not make a lasting impression. I caught the trailer for Lion and thought that it looked interesting but never got around to see it, but it made me look at him in a different way. I did see the green knight and it was different, but it made me appreciate how good of an actor Dev was and made me keep an eye out for future projects of his. Then came the trailer for Monkey Man and it instantly became one I had to see.
Monkey man is the story of Kid, a man who makes a living as a fighter wearing a monkey mask, who frequently loses to make the other fighters look better. We learn through flashbacks that his mother was killed, and home destroyed by Rana Singh, a local police chief, acting from the orders of Baba Shakti, rising spiritual guru who is becoming a major power in politics. The kid vows revenge and infiltrates the club where Rana frequents in an attempt to assassinate him. The plan does not go as planned and Kid is forced to flee. He ends up at a temple to Ardhanarishvara, who is the embodiment of the male and female aspects of Shiva in Hindu religion. The temple is run by a group of Hijra, a community of third gender people, and they take Kid in for healing where he recovers both spiritually and physically to confront his enemies again, leading to a climatic confrontation.
I went in to Monkey man expecting a john Wick experience of frantic bad ass action and while there is a lot of that , there is also a lot of heart. We see the downtrodden people in poverty. We see a man conflicted growing into more then just a vengeance seeker. All in all this is one well worth checking out.
Paper Phoenix ink 