It’s a great time for people who a) want to see more of Dev Patel and b) have ever uttered the phrase ‘step on me’ about him, because his new film Monkey Man – his directorial debut – kills two birds with one stone.
After staying relatively quiet for the last few years bar popping up in a couple of shorts (one of them being the now Oscar-winning The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar from Wes Anderson), we now know what he’s been cooking up: a John Wick-style, all-kicking, all-punching, all-stabbing-people-in-the-eye-with-the-nearest-broken-glass-shard revenge epic with a little help from Jordan Peele.
Here’s everything we know about Monkey Man.
What is Monkey Man about?
It’s a tale as old as time – the haves vs the have-nots.
In Monkey Man, Patel, who stars as well as takes the helm behind the camera, plays a nameless man who embarks on a revenge mission against a corrupt group of leaders who caused the death of his mother and continue to play games with the poor in society. After spending years making a measly living in an underground fight club where he dons a silicone monkey mask and gets beaten to a pulp, he lets rage be his fuel as he finally decides to try and cut out the rot from the inside – one gnarly action set piece at a time. The core of the character takes inspiration from the legend of Hanuman, the Hindu deity who’s come to be synonymous with strength, courage and unwavering devotion.
Essentially, it’s John Wick in Mumbai, but this time he’s avenging his mum rather than a dog. Seriously, look at this newly released clip of a kitchen fight. While Patel has admitted Wick served as a slight inspiration for the movie (“You see a man in a suit”), he says he pulled from multiple action genres. “This film is born from my love of so much action cinema,” he told the Austin American Statesman at the film’s SXSW premiere, “from Bruce Lee to Sammo Hong to Jet Lee to Jackie Chan to the Korean cinema that totally changed my life. And also Bollywood.”
In the run-up to the release, the film dropped a hefty 3-minute trailer, the first real piece of evidence that this film which has been in the works since 2018 was landing in our laps (and soon!). If you’re not slamming your fists on the table from either the seemingly endless carousel of razor-sharp fight scenes or the “Beware Of The Boys” by MC and Jay Z needle-drop, then you might honestly have had your head conked about one too many times while wearing a monkey mask.
Who is starring in Monkey Man?
In Monkey Man, Dev Patel is the man of the hour.