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If nothing else, he can take a punch. We know that. He don’t fight so good. He sure don’t win so good. But after being tossed within and without the ring, the Monkey Man (writer/director/star Dev Patel) gets up again and again and again.
There is a question of motivation… is it strictly revenge, or is there something bigger at play here? Kid (Patel), who fights in an underground (boxing?) club, wears a monkey mask while fighting. His task is to throw the fight and shed blood while doing it; the fans love blood. All of this has a greater purpose, I think. The pay isn’t good enough to compensate for the pain. As a child, Kid lost his mother in a village massacre. Kid’s revenge arc begins with endurance, I’m guessing.
Step 2 is the brothel. The Madam is Queenie Kapoor (Ashwini Kalsekar). The client is Rana (Sikandar Kher), the man who slaughtered the villagers (including Kid’s mother) so many years ago. Kid has Queenie’s wallet stolen, then returns it in person looking for a job, He gets one washing dishes. Can he use it to get to Rana? Oh, maybe three or four more steps later. And if he gets over his Hamlet complex.
Monkey Man hints at being the Indian Hamlet, but kind of ends up as the Indian John Wick. In the meantime, Kid or “Bobby” or “Monkey Man” has a lot of changing to do. There’s a big difference 
between desire for revenge and execution of revenge and Dev Patel seems to know it much better than most.
For all the images of a dude wearing a monkey mask in a ring, this is a serious film with blood and destruction and pointy things. It’s one where a person/action/choice either leads to the objective (a net good) or it does not (a net bad). One gets the feeling that everything in the film can be reduced to “Does it help?” or “Does it hinder?” which is why I’m a tad baffled at how the MMA career comes into play. What’s important here is that anything or anyone no longer needed can be disregarded. In a way, Kid has become exactly the thing he despises – the kind of person who puts objective above personal feeling.
This is a good watch, if -unfortunately- slightly derivative of John Wick. I could easily see Monkey Man sequels of increasingly poor value, not unlike the Rambo franchise. The motivating factor will disappear, yet the lethal skill set and bloodlust will remain; that’s an ideal set of circumstances for a future fanbase.
There was once an orphan named Bobby
Who desired a revenge most Punjabi
He was in over his head
And likely would be dead
Were bloodsport not his emerging hobby
Rated R, 121 Minutes
Director: Dev Patel
Writer: Paul Angunawela, John Collee, Dev Patel
Genre: When ya ain’t got nothin’ left to lose …
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Underdogs
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Bullies
