Film review: Monkey Man is fight-show action inspired by Hindu mythology

Monkey Man Movie Universal Pictures

• Monkey Man
• ★★★★☆
• Cinema release

Oscar nominee and Bafta winner Dev Patel is the producer, writer, director, and lead star in Monkey Man (16), a dark, brutal, and exciting action-adventure.

Patel takes influences from John Wick and Bruce Lee to tell a story inspired by the Hindu myth of Hanuman, a warrior monkey. 

He plays Kid, a penniless young man who earns a living by fighting in a hellish fight club run by Tiger (Sharlto Copley). Kid wears a monkey mask honouring his mother, Neela (Adithi Kalkunte), who used to tell him stories about Hanuman.

Neela was brutally murdered by police chief Rama Singh (Sikander Kher) and flashbacks of her death haunt Kid. Since the murder, he has plotted Singh’s death, and the time has come to put the plan in motion. 

He scams his way into a job at a five-star hotel owned by Queenie (Ashwini Kalsekar), who sells indentured women to Singh and his cronies as sex workers. 

After almost losing his life trying to kill Singh, Kid is saved by a hijra, Alpha (Vipin Sharma), one of India’s third gender people who teaches him how to turn his pain into confident focus, which will allow him to channel Hanuman to kill Singh.

Although there are too many flashbacks and some unfinished ideas, Patel’s debut is assured, confident, and imaginatively ambitious. 

The fights are adrenaline-filled and bold in the best possible way. It’s not perfect, but what a directorial debut.