Chances are you’ve seen a movie like Monkey Man before. Movies like this have a young hero who lost someone and is out for revenge against some big evil. They spend time training until the moment comes when they get their revenge. They even spend some of their journey broken and being put back together by a group of the lowest of the low within whatever city or planet they’re on. The point being, we’ve seen something like Monkey Man before. But that doesn’t take away from how great Monkey Man is or that this movie is one that you should check out in theaters. Because yes we’ve seen this kind of movie before. But we have never seen it through this lens. And that makes it worthwhile.
A lot of commentary that I’ve seen surrounding this movie is that they didn’t understand the tiny details. They didn’t understand what political strife is happening in this version of India. They didn’t understand the gods that are central to Indian culture or what led to this third gender in Indian culture to be separated in the way that it was. And I get that. A lot of people haven’t experienced Indian culture. Whether it’s because of ignorance or they’ve never been exposed to it. But for me, I have to ask why people think that the US/Hollywood standard is the standard for everyone. Action movies made in Hollywood that drop Christ references or political references known in the US or sometimes the UK, don’t go on to explain the ins and outs of it all. They expect you to know because for them, it’s the standard. But the world doesn’t revolve around Western ideals. That’s very self-centered for Hollywood and those adjacent to think that.
So I don’t think that Monkey Man needs to explain everything in the way that some audience members want. In fact, I don’t think they need to explain everything because the movie makes sense. I don’t need to know what this mysterious cult-like leader is in the context of Indian culture. Because I’ve seen men like him in Hollywood movies. They don’t explain how this evil got to where they are. You just know that they’re evil and that they need to be taken down because of the hurt they have caused the main hero. And if people do want to know more about the background of what’s happening in India that has influenced this movie for Dev Patel, then they should treat this movie as a curiosity door. Open that door. Walk through it and explore another country and the culture and politics of it all to understand this movie to the extent that you want. I did it as a Latina, and so should others.
When it comes to Monkey Man, I also didn’t mind the back and forth when it came to his memories and what was happening in the present. Because I feel like as the plot progressed, the memories went hand in hand with what was happening and it felt like a puzzle sliding into place with every move that our hero made. This puzzle fits even better because of the pace and cinematography of the directing. I could tell from Monkey Man that there was intention behind every shot, even when he opened his chest and things got weird or he stabbed some guy in the neck with a knife between his teeth. A24 has been doing weird things like this and Hollywood and South Korean action movies have gone hard on action. So if I didn’t have problems with Hollywood or South Korean action movies hitting beats in the way that they did or A24 giving us weird, I’m absolutely not going to have problems with Monkey Man being inspired by it all and incorporated into the movie.
Keeping all of that in mind, I do have to applaud Dev Patel for his dedication when it came to bringing together different elements that he loved throughout his life. You can tell that he has a great love for action but also the craft of filmmaking. He literally broke his body to create this film. And it shows a level of dedication that I don’t think I’ve ever personally experienced in my life or seen a creator do for a personal project like this. If anything, it makes me excited for what he can do next. If he can deliver a unique shift in perspective and lens to a familiar story in the form of an action flick like Monkey Man, imagine what he can create if he tells other familiar stories but through his lens. Imagine if he takes his hand and gives sci-fi a whirl or romance? And not just from the Hollywood or Eurocentric angle of it all. He makes me excited about filmmaking.
We should be doing more movies like Monkey Man. And I’m forever grateful to Jordan Peele for pushing for this movie to get a theatrical release. Because this is going to inspire people like Dev Patel to get out there and create stories from their perspective. Because Hollywood is getting boring if I’m being honest. It’s the same beats over and over. I want to experience the world through someone else’s eyes. I want to be curious about other people’s culture and how they see the world. Because that’s the magic of filmmaking. And for those saying that I’m getting a little bit too deep into this, Monkey Man is deep. Monkey Man is a story about love as much as it is action and the pain that this lead character experiences throughout the film is visceral and painful. We got to live through that because of Dev Patel’s vision and passion. And I’d love to see more. There needs to be more.
Monkey Man is now available in theaters.
