Revenge is one of the most potent forms of motivation for any character. Revenge can be all-consuming, a void that sucks one into its grasp and refuses to let go until all injustices have been righted. In the right story, it can be a gratifying and euphoric explosion of rage. But in others, it can be a cliché way to move a story along, going from beat to beat until an ultimately unsatisfying conclusion.
Directed by Dev Patel and produced by Jordan Peele, “Monkey Man” stars Patel as a bare-knuckle boxer named Kid, known in the ring as the Monkey Man, as he goes down a vicious path of vengeance against the people that took his land and killed his people. It’s a one-man revenge tour à la John Wick.
The greatest highlight that this film has to offer is the exhilarating fight scenes. The choreography and cinematography align in such a perfect manner that every scene with flying punches has you on the edge of your seat. The movements in the fights are fast and snappy as the camera makes sure that you can admire these moments and watch as every powerful punch flies into the face of a bad guy. Two especially well-done sequences showcasing the technique include fights at a brothel and a bar. For a first-time director, Patel struts his stuff when it comes to the action. But aside from the action, the movie stumbles a bit.
Besides a tragic backstory, there is not much to the titular boxer. He feels less of a character, and more of a conduit of rage than anything else. There is a distinct lack of personality in the character. Most characters in the movie feel cliché and cookie-cutter: A comic relief character, a wise mentor and villains that feel two-dimensional, with little personality other than “pure evil.” These characters feel as if they were created to serve a certain purpose in the story and nothing more. The funny character is funny. The wise mentor trains the hero. The bad guys are trying to take over the city.
The central theme of the movie- the oppression of a people and their forcible removal from their land- falls flat before feeling its full impact. This occurs in Kid’s backstory, but the theme recurs throughout the feature-length, like when Kid leaves his city and happens upon a tribe consisting of primarily transgender people. There are many great ideas at play here that could really come together to create something worthwhile, but “Monkey Man” needs to give more time to examine the ideas properly. The mere existence of a theme is not itself important, but the exploration of said theme is what makes a theme worth exploring.
“Monkey Man,” while an exhilarating film at times through technical mastery, is also a film bogged down by a lack of crucial depth necessary to tell a poignant and thoughtful story.
‘Monkey Man” is now playing in theaters.
Rating: 6/10
