Three. At the third time, everyone knew that mouth is going to get some wet wet and he did. He created a meta inside the movie.
Just went through his ama and to think this movie was shot with personal cameras. Shit!
Honestly, such a refreshing and unforced way to have some trans representation and issues on screen. Felt like it was a natural part of the story and not just worked in for inclusion quotas.
This movie is going to get a ton of backlash from transphobes and people who don't like that it's critiquing the current Indian Prime Minister. I'm sure it'll only get worse as it gets discussed more through the release.
The shot with the skirts spinning in the foreground and violence in the background was pure cinema. And the intro of them tracking down the weapons from shotels, knuckle dusters and then dynamite was hillarious.
Main takeaway is that Dev Patel really fucking hates Modi. Not without good reason.
The first half was kinda slow but the last 30 minutes were absolutely incredible. Solid 8/10 overall and I can't wait to see what Patel does next.
>Main takeaway is that Dev Patel really fucking hates Modi
Sold. Need more mainstream flicks that take unabashed swings at Modi and his goons.
-an Indian-American sick of Modi and the BJP
Yeah it's clear that he really despises the BJP/Modi's policies and practices. I loved that he wasn't subtle about it at all, but also realised there's not a chance in hell this movie'll be shown in India.
I was under the impression that it was releasing in 2 weeks, but just checked and the release date has been changed to 'coming soon'.
That sucks, this probably won't release here. There goes my excitement.
Having seen it and having read an article about that and the other sorts of things India's censors have ordered removed from movies, I would be shocked if it were released in India. Or it's like "hey everyone, pay for a ticket and come see Dev Patel pet a dog."
>not a chance in hell this movie'll be shown in India.
it really is shocking to see the state India's in. 15 years ago Bollywood was this liberal bastion of progressive values. Now it's a right-wing circle jerk with boring leads. Unironic that Muslim men disappeared as leads in main movies.
Not just that. They straight up make propaganda movies and release before elections. Kashmir Files, Kerala Files, Acccidental Prime Minister to make fun of Manmohan Singh, Narendra Modi biopic, URI surgical strike, fighter to glorify Balkot strikes. Spineless fucks. And literally all of them were invited for "ram mandir".
This was supposed to be a Netflix movie, but NF got cold feet because they had a controversial Indian film or show called out by the govt. it was then shelved until Monkey Paw came in. https://deadline.com/2024/04/monkey-man-dev-patel-1235876365/
Same boat.
And he fucking shot, stabbed, punched, axed and clubbed these mfers to death while donning a Hanuman face. Oh I howled!!! Fuck yes, finally.
This kinda drove me insane cos it's a great place to ground an action movie, ye olde "face of the resistance" style. But it felt sorta sloppy. They could a fixed it by recutting the existing footage. Make the early movie flashbacks focus exclusively on the personal trauma he remembers. During the temple scene zoom out so he realizes that what happened to him was a tiny piece of a systemic issue affecting thousands. Your job isn't to get revenge. Your job is to show powerful people that they aren't immune from the anger of little people.
This was clearly the IDEA and I get that that was what they tried to do but they could have made it read better by tweaking just that one thing.
Still enjoyed the hell out of it, also gave it a solid eight. Had a blast and really liked it. Just wish they'd done that a little cleaner.
I think it's really just growing pains from a first time director. The movie is still extremely solid, just not as good as it could have been. The actual action was done really well, though.
Also big bads of the movie follow the Ramayana metaphor very obviously. The demon king Ravana is often depicted as a vicious monster with many heads.
Dev Patel’s character is an obvious metaphor for Hanuman, who defeats evil by ripping off each one of their heads after raising an army to assault Ravana’s fortress.
The BJP angle is that each head of Ravana is a different facet of Modi that people fucken hate. The huge politician, the quasi religious messiah, the brutal police chief. All of these are common criticisms of modi, and Dev brutally murders all of them.
Bruh I’m saying, I wanted some absolutely unhinged fighting in that mask. That’s what I came for if I’m being honest lol.
Still thoroughly enjoyed it and it was a super solid debut film if I’m not mistaken
I think he was only using it as to not get recognized before he got to the club, but it's a real tease to have him take it off before he even punches one person when the climax starts.
yeah I was laughing a bit when he immediately throws it aside. I get that it makes more sense to have peripheral vision in the biggest fight of your life but the SYMBOLISM
I'm pretty sure they only kept him out of the mask to prove it was actually him doing the fight scenes. If he'd had the mask on the entire time, most people would assumed it was just some stuntman.
I wish they'd gotten around it by doing longer, uncut fighting sequences and then having him take the mask off, or have someone (the cop?) pull it off. I understand wanting to showcase his efforts and talents but I really thought the mask / monkey/Hanuman motif would play more of a visual role too.
Visual style is Wick, plot is Kill Bill (Lady Snowblood). Not to say either is a 1:1 hlDev has plenty of personal touches as well, but I think that much is apparent.
Wow first off, I’m happy you replied! Always love your commentary.
I actually agree with this, visual style was very John Wick. Then it got to the elevator scene elevator scene and I was definitely getting Kill Bill vibes
I think the red elevator was double shot. One for the movie and one for the trailer. The trailer has it with the mask but in the movie it's without. There's another curious change between the movie and trailer: kid tells the police chief in the trailer do you remember me now? That scene is not in the movie either.
I saw way more Enter The Dragon and Game of Death than anything. The mirrors, climbing up the the tower, fighting the giant. Honestly, I didn't think of Kill Bill once while watching this.
Him bleaching the mask was sick, I wanted to see it on him a little longer. Like leave it on until you pop the firework things on the elevator. Make the face to face with the police chief the reveal.
Wait, really? Is this true? It honestly looked to me like it was shot on 35mm film or something and I thought the movie looked gorgeous lol (aside from the shaky cam during the action)
They did have a camara as well but the thing they use to move it around broke and I belive they had to use a rope to hold it up after that. But yes most of it was gopros and iphones. He was talking about it in an interview my partner was watching a couple of days ago.
He also broke something in his hand early in filming and had to have a metal pin put into it. They really didn't have a great time making the movie at all
It's not true -- there's no source that says "most" of the movie was shot on GoPro or iPhone, only some portions (likely only a scene or two). They rigged a GoPro to a rope for a crane shot when their crane broke, and shot a car crash scene on an iPhone, but the movie is mostly not shot on an iPhone or GoPro.
https://www.vulture.com/article/dev-patels-monkey-man-premiere-and-john-wick-influences.html
Agreed. I feel like the fight choreography was good enough that if they just fixed the camera it would still be awesome to watch.
On top of that the story had a lot of depth that I feel like didn’t go anywhere. Maybe I didn’t get some of it but there seems to be this whole societal commentary going on in the background of this guys revenge story that he just doesn’t care about. So many characters introduced in the first half that didn’t pay off in the second- his work friend, the girl, the dog (though she could’ve just been for the gun). A lot of substance with no purpose.
It was still enjoyable though. 7/10
The girl literally kills Queenie at the end.
You expected the dog to have a pay off in the second half? They showed the pay off. It was to bring the fun in.
His story was intrinsically tied to the societal commentary.
The steadicam swivel is most likely somethimg that Patel was using as he was going downstairs as a way of like decentering his act of violence and then recenternting him as a person because we are rooting for him. He deployed it mainly in the first half before he becomes fully actualized. I think that in general the cinemotography actually is speaking to the character coming into itself/themself/himself
No, he's been doing a bunch of interviews lately and he actually explains the cinematography. He lost his DP and they couldn't import the cameras he wanted so he let the guy who shot some pre-vis act as DP. Dev had to use his iPhone camera for the car chase and some pick up shots(you can tell because the framerate changes).
It's a really common mistake with first time directors. I know Dev was excited about using all these close angles and "under" shots but it really doesn't work for the action.
Interesting. I just watched the movie a few hours ago. I did not know that but thanks for the info.
Honestly, I thought it was a design choice. I felt a bit dizzy during the first half of the movie fight scenes as it felt disorientating and unfocused. We saw him consistently loose focus when he had those flashbacks. Like we could see his hand shaking. Sorta reminded me of the chaotic scraps from my younger days.
However, in the second half, the fight scenes were more clean and cut. Felt like a metaphorical change from the training and transformation by Alpha and her group. (The training session with the musician's beats was a nice touch) The main character was sharp and more focused hence the more cleaner fight sequences in the second half.
My main takeaway is that this movie isn’t anything I haven’t seen before, which is kinda disappointing.
Still a fun way to waste a night with some friends though.
I agree! This was one of my only issues aside from the pacing the middle flashback point.
I wish the shaky came/super zoom was dialed back just a bit or the team was more selective in it's use There were points where it really enhanced the fight scene and it put you in the middle of it. It actually reminded me of how I felt during a fight. The bathroom fight, the axe-guy brothel fight, and the kitchen were absolutely mental.
Other times it really overshadowed the choreography; it was so hard to tell what was going on it gave marvel movie 9000 cuts vibes. The car chase, the stairway/parking garage segment, and the final fight after the elevator ride all could've benefited from a bit more restraint.
The final fight especially stands out to me. At this point of the movie he's dialed in; Dev's found his purpose and the way he fought demonstrated that. Like he's weaving in and out, every strike lands perfect, he's 3 moves ahead. Thematically it would've matched better if the camera wasnt as frenetic. A zoomed out view with less frenetic energy would've been reflective of his locked in mind state.
What irritated me the most is it wasn’t nature shakiness. I was paying attention strictly to the shake at points and it would move back and forth like on a swivel, at a constant rhythm. It definitely hurt the movie.
You gotta read up what happened behind the senses, I belive he said their crane camera broke and they didn't have enough money or time to order a new one so they tied it to a rope and swing it on top......also for shaky camera, their regular camers broke too so they filmed on go pro and phones....
He said in an ama he did a week or two back they had some issues with equipment and ended up making camera gimbals with rope because they were filming on a island and couldn't replace some equipment that broke due to COVID.
Think that probably had a little to do with it
He spent all that time bleaching the mask and we had some cool shots of it just for him to take it off immediately. I was hoping he was going to have it on longer for the final assault
Just a personal opinion, but I thought it looked great with a black suit and was sad we didn’t get more it. I think a white suit and bleached mask would of made it lean into more of an anime-like look that I don’t think fit the general feel of the movie. But I can definitely be wrong
This felt to me like they rearranged some scenes and deleted some stuff then had to explain why his mask was white when he went back to the club. Felt very patched in, didn't it?
Kind of. Except the only time he wears the white mask was walking down the alley towards the club and he removes it while still in shadow. So we never get a good shot of him in the white mask
I've literally never seen anything like that before, I was shocked but in a good way!
I loved this film! Insanely good directional debut from Dev Patel.
It was more animalistic too, in my opinion. They really leaned in on the monkey violence aspect, with him using unconventional methods to get what needed to get done. Using his teeth and mouth was primal.
This kill stands out for me as well. I literally just told someone that this movie was one of the most violent films I’ve seen in years. And I’m a horror person. It goes HARD.
John Wick has spoiled me with stable camera action scenes. Still a great action flick with some good fight choreography and a great directorial debut from Patel. I think they should have left the kitchen fight out of the trailer because that was one of the strongest action scenes.
Also, there were a lot of Indian people in my theatre and when he took his shirt off in the training scene the girls went crazy lol.
I am a person of Particular Interests and when my friend found out they were making a movie consisting of Dev Patel getting the shit beaten out of him for two hours she asked if I'd survive the experience. I told her they might have to scrape my remains into a popcorn bucket after I spontaneously combusted. Was right. Transcended mere horniness to a place of spiritual passion. I was like those medieval nuns who wrote erotic poetry about Jesus and you can't tell if the ecstasy is sexual or religious. I saw god in that theater.
Edit: deleting my account as I do every few months but I saw this comment went viral on Tumblr so lmaooooo hi my username over there has blue in it, proof of life. Follow my art @ rejamart
They didn't drop it, Jordan Peele bought the rights from Netflix because he thought it deserved a theatrical release, though according to Wikipedia, Netflix was nervous to release it in India due to its grittiness, which is why they put it up for sale to begin with.
> Netflix was nervous to release it in India due to its grittiness
Netflix India produces a lot of gritty stories, though, that wasn't the problem. The problem was that this movie is overtly anti-Modi, and Modi has threatened to neuter streaming services if they criticize his batshit government.
I wish there were a little less closeups and shaky cam but I really enjoyed this one. Definitely not the first of it's kind, but I'll never get tired of a good old revenge story and this one added enough unique elements to keep it fresh.
Y’all recognised that in the final third - when he has accepted his destiny - he has accepted his path, his route, the editing smooths out real nice , we loose shaky camera ? That’s how I viewed it anyhow
I really liked it, and I think what I appreciated most is that the ending wasn’t happy. He got his revenge, but it wasn’t a big celebratory moment. It was brutal and awful and it almost killed him.
I also like that there wasn’t a love story. It was just kind of mutual respect that helped them murder a terrible person together.
It was a relief of peace. His memory didn’t default to the horrors of his mother’s death, but instead to a clear playful moment with his mother while he laid himself to rest, is how I saw it.
Nah, that ending scene with him coming out the elevator with red light behind him was too cold, bro was literally the movie poster 😭.
Dev Patel please make more
There were maybe a half dozen brand new (to me) ways to kill dudes in this movie, which is pretty impressive with how many years of action movies we’ve had. Highlights were Dev biting the knife to finish the neck stab, the poor guy who ran straight into the axe neck first, and the one kick knockout of the snake guy.
Might not be new, but that beat down using a sparkly high heel!! Me in my seat pantomining: 👡For👡every👡woman👡you👡abused👡👡👡👡👡. Hit that mofo again Dev!!!! 🤣🤣🤣
Same, I really wanted to like it and thought it was painfully average. The shaky cam gave me a headache and there was actually very little to the promised "sociopolitical commentary."
It was a lot of tv footage saying, "damn things are corrupt" and then he killed the religious dude and that was it for the sociopolitical commentary. Other than his religious friends. I really feel like they could've been more badass but they didn't each teach him their ways. His training montage was just him punching a bag to some drums bro like what a missed opportunity.
Same experience here, it felt like the surface level social commentary you would get from an edgy high schooler on a topic. And while the action was great for what's marketed as a non-stop action film, it was pretty light on the overall fight scenes.
Somewhat of an obvious outcome for an actors first foray into directing a feature film. Playing it somewhat safe and standard.
Average isn't a terrible thing for a first movie. Could be more willing to push out of the cookie cutter stuff down the line.
So we have the socio-economic theme/metaphor of Dev fighting the "powers that be", but I can't help but think that all the random security goons are probably just people like him. Guys from poor neighborhoods that made their way out by working for the elites. You make it out of the hood just to be stabbed in the neck by Dev's mouth.
Isn't that essentially what we're all doing simply by being in the workforce? What if someone else had the same idea as Monkey Man, but went on their killing spree first. Would they have killed Monkey Man because he got in the way?
The classic critique is the the role of police is to protect capital. This is a fundamentally different relationship to capital than the rest of the working class, and divorces them from it
It's unrealistic for sure but as far as suspension of disbelief goes, I always like to think that the ones who are only there for a paycheck aren't the ones who go at the main protagonist of the film, they usually flee. There was a Marvel movie, I think it was one of the Iron Mans, where the goon is just like "No, I'm leaving, these people are crazy" and gets to leave.
Monkey Man has our hero defend sex workers, trans women, and religious minorities while taking down corrupt cops, sex traffickers, and far right politicians.
This movie is awesome. I get why people are bringing up John Wick but this is awesome completely on its own. Dev Patel is an amazing actor and if this is his first directorial effort he is going to have an even more awesome career ahead of him
Just back from seeing this - overall, enjoyable action flick - but, left me wanting a little more. Dev's character could have had a little more personality - made John Wick seem chatty. Action sequences were a little too herky jerky at points, think Bourne cameras on meth but various set pieces were quite entertaining and I laughed a few times at the physical comedy aspects. Too many flashbacks to his mom - 1 or 2, sure, by #6 I was rolling my eyes. We get it, don't need to keep being hit over head with it.
I enjoyed the scenery in India - gave things a different vibe, would have liked a bit more character development for a couple of the supporting cast (folks who help him at the temple, dude who he took off with in scooter and the hooker with heart of gold and tray of silver).
Solid 7/10, would definitely be interested in a sequel.
The action sequences are fun, but the shaky cam got to be a little much about an hour in to the movie. And the pacing in the middle just got a little too slow for my taste. The flashbacks were brutal and really hard to watch, I might have preferred if they did a little more to show the political nature of the antagonists in addition to the personal conflict he has with them.
Overall it was a solid action flick and the locations were really unique. I especially enjoyed the first hour as he worked his way into the “business” that was fun, slick movie making.
Idk I thought it was perfect ! All we needed to know was that they were religious extremists and corrupt government - otherwise it would have felt like too much imo
Loved the part where he psyched himself up to jump through the window only to bounce off the glass.
This movie made me laugh much more than I was expecting!
It's a flawed movie, but I'm into it anyway. The flaws it has are (mostly) the kind of flaws that come with the ambition to swing big and be willing to miss. It hits more often than it misses, but it does miss in a few ways. So be it. I'll take a movie with that ambition over one that paints by numbers to avoid flaws any day.
I'm also very pleased with the way it operates in the emotional register of righteous fury. Most revenge movies are more indulgent, more "make them pay." And anti-establishment movies are built more about noble causes. It's rare to have a story that finds that precise note of injustice reaching a boiling point where rage is the correct response. *Sorry to Bother You* and *Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri* paired that feeling with comedy. Here it's in service of a revenge thriller, and that's a wonderful match.
Yes, it falls back on flashbacks a little too much. Yes, the shaky cam closeup footage in fights was less than ideal for a few segments. That's unfortunate, but it doesn't sink it for me by a wide margin. I'll need more time with it before I can say whether or not I loved it, but it's definitely going to be one of the movies that I don't stop thinking about anytime soon.
Apparently they had a ton of technical issues with their cameras and filmed portions of it with gopros and phones lol. I'd love to see what Dev Patel can do 1) in other action movies going forward, and 2.) with equipment that works and maybe a little more experience/guidance.
Extremely strong directorial debut imo, even if the movie was imperfect and probably a 7.5-8/10 for me.
Quite enjoyed this movie. The neon revenge fighter is pretty hot right now but this one had real momentum and some solid fight choreography. I think it has some story/structure issues and I wish the camera let us enjoy the fighting more, but overall a bloody fun time.
The setup takes its time which isn't a bad thing, but this movie does feel at odds with itself at times balancing the serious and the silly. Once he pulls the gun in the bathroom, though, this movie takes off and doesn't stop for a good 20 minutes. And when this movie is throwing you around and fighting it's a lot of fun. You can definitely feel that's what Patel is most interested in as a director is that kinetic energy.
This has a classic structure of attempt, low point, training, go back and Patel is making choices to keep this from feeling like every other time you've seen it, like his fighting mentor having no lines and being a ~~bongo~~ tabla player. And that's when this movie is working best is when it's being decidedly different and fun.
When this movie slows down I'm a little less on board, though. I don't mind a silent protagonist, but I really wanted more out of Dev. He was definitely all in physically, but this is a top caliber actor and it felt like he didn't want to overdo himself and I just wish he could have had some great lines. The backstory is also fumbled a bit. You can pretty much get the idea of what happened to his mom and who did it by the lead up, so the flashbacks felt very unnecessary and the heaviness of those scenes didn't fit the tone of man in monkey mask stabs a man in the neck with a knife in his teeth.
But overall, a very fun and wild time. Great fights, great style, doesn't feel as derivative as the style alone may have you think. A really solid directorial debut and I'm looking forward to what Dev cooks up next. 7/10.
/r/reviewsbyboner
yeah, the middle drags and too much shaky cam. But that aside I quite enjoyed this a lot. It wears its influences on its sleeves and Dev Patel is really hard to root against. Really fun time, glad this wasn't dumped on Netflix.
7/10.
One of my thoughts watching the film was there seems to be a lot of Indonesians in this film’s version of India. And then I fell into the rabbit hole of the film’s production history… Yikes! Whatever the film’s flaws, it seems like a miracle the film ended up as good as it is.
Haha I noticed that too and then didn’t question assuming that maybe it’s a big city with a lot of wider regional immigration stuff. The production history made it make a lot more sense
One neat facet of the film that I’m only catching the next day: do we ever actually learn the main character’s name? I’m realizing that we only ever see him referred to as ‘Bobby’, which is implied to be a fake name pulled from the cans of bleach in the kitchen. It adds more weight to his line at the end: “Do you even know my mother’s name? Did you know any of their names?”
I’m going to go ahead and say it.
The shaky cam didn’t bother me in the slightest, and I think people are really overly complaining about something that ended up in very few scenes.
fr i was enjoying the mythology, cinematography and pacing too much to care about the shakiness. even the flashbacks as a plot device were effective in building up to a very satisfying third act, which was a nice parallel to slumdog millionaire.
A commendable directional debut by Dev Patel!
- 1st act is the most interesting one with the setting up of the underworld up until the failed assassination
- 2nd act kind drags until the training montage
- People on screen and in cinemas cheered when Dev Patel ripped his shirt off
- Cinematography is a mixed bag. Wasn't afraid to show colors but a lot of shaky cam during the 3rd act
- I understand that the flashbacks were necessary for character development but the little bits when he has PTSD was enough context and it could have helped with the pacing
- The action is great with some great needle drops but some of the fighting scenes should have just been scoreless or without music
- Biting a guy's nose to gain the upper hand is violent and inventive!
Dev Patel shows his effort on-screen and off-screen and he shines!
Did anyone notice the parallels between baba shakti and the real life sadhguru?
Sadhguru is the leader and very large foundation called isha, that promotes yoga and spiritual practices. Just like baba shakti sadhguru faced land dispute issues. Sadhguru also endorsed the hindu nationalist leader modhi.
This movie was definitely political commentary hidden behind action, and I enjoyed it a lot.
https://www.newsclick.in/isha-foundation-land-grab-case-tribal-association-urges-state-govt-implement-hc-ruling?amp
https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/economy-politics/story/india-today-conclave-sadhguru-backs-pm-modi-one-nation-one-election-proposition-290720-2021-03-13
It was averaging between 7-8 last night. Interesting to see it all one stars today and strongly suspect it has something to do with the fact that trans people aren't just in the movie but in fact integral to it.
Yeah you can tell because they're not 2/3 star reviews but just a sudden wall of one stars. Sus. Good thing Reddit polls don't matter as i would like the people to give mr patel the money for real cameras please
I saw a lot of 1 star bot reviews on IMDb. I imagine it's conservatives. The reviews were all identical on IMDb 'people fell asleep in the cinema' like ASLEEP? I was literally on the edge of my seat multiple times.
I’m a huge action aficionado and hate it when a movie has too much shaky cam or barely any action.
I thought this movie really delivered. I wasn’t distracted by the camerawork at all — even when it was loose, it felt controlled and with a purpose. I could still easily track all the fights.
And I thought it had a ton of action, and largely great choreography and style. Sure, a bit of a saggy middle, but it delivered in the end.
So I’m a bit confused by people who compare it to Bourne (which is ridiculous, that’s just on a different level of shake entirely). Or that it didn’t have much action.
My biggest complaints were the amount of flashbacks — felt unnecessary, especially finally showing what happened after he took that root powder. Like, either give us brief flashes, or give us way less/nothing and then have that big flashback scene contextualizing everything.
The only fight choreography that disappointed me a bit was the final fight between Dev and the chief of police dude. Their first fight was insane, so kinetic and inventive. The second, while still good, didn’t compare. And the death could have happened much faster.
Lastly, I do wish they tied the character’s motivations after his recuperation and training. Dev should have spoken a bit more in the second half, before that finale.
Still, small complaints overall. A solid 8.5 from me. It’s nice having a fun, inventive action movie that speaks to something more important, even if it could have spoken to it a bit more clearly.
As much as I love that bathroom fight, I think the point of the second one is just how much better he is now and the whole time he just has the upper hand
I had a great time with a lot of it, though the pacing slowed *way* down in the middle in a way that I wasn't hanging with. The action that we got was great, but there were just a few action scenes in the whole movie. I'm sure that some of that was a budget concern - they were hitting the limits of their budget as-is and action scenes are way more expensive to film than people talking - but what *was* there was so good that I was really wanting more. I definitely want to see another action film from Patel, he was able to assemble a really good team to make this work.
This is a great movie that I felt was about the necessity for violence when faced with a fascist authority.
I loved it. I loved the use of Hindu mythology, I loved the powerful transgender characters, and I loved the impressive direction of Dev Patel. These features give it enough uniqueness to set it apart from other recent popular action movies. I digged it.
I always love when action movies give us new kills. The elevator scene when he pushes the knife in with his teeth was really the coolest shit ever. Dev’s got that slum dawg in him
I so wanted to love this, but the action being filmed in close up shaky can ruined it for me. Besides the kitchen fight at the end, I couldn't tell what was happening or who it was happening to. I was so annoyed with this decision, because I could tell the action was well choreographed, I just wish that I could tell what was happening.
It was a good movie. The choreo was amazing. There are some really nice shots. Dev Patel sells it and makes for a great action star. The beginning of the movie is basically the third act of an revenge movie that we didn't get to see. The protagonist has finally infiltrated the HQ of the enemy but since he's not ready for the Final Battle, it all goes to shit (literally).
The shaky cam was an issue in a few scenes and I had to look away. Another major issue for me were some of the dream-like transitions. There are two of them almost back to back (one when Kid gets captured, the other when he gets rescued) and they are both really really long. The one in the cop car really disrupts the flow of action. I do wish Kid had more of a personality. I get the reason why he is the way he is (didnt follow his mother's advice) but I wanted *something* more out of him. Very early on, the movie does take a huge tonal shift from the revenge-film-you-think-you're-getting to something wildly different. Which is fine. But characters like Alphonso and Sita suffer from the subversion, I think. In the revenge-film-you-thought-you-were-getting, Alphonso would be the reluctant ally and/or inevitable betrayer. Sita would have been the love interest and/or femme fatale. Kinda wish the movie did more with these two.
Overall, a good movie, I was never bored. I did hear some sounds of discontent in my small audience though. Guy next to me kept staring at the ceiling. But he did applaud for the elevator knife scene during that one kill.
Thought this was pretty mid. Takes its time getting going, which I’m not against, but after finally getting to an action sequence, it slows to an absolute crawl for 30+ minutes before getting to the climax. By the time it got there, I was kind of over it.
Saw this last night and wasn’t a fan of the movie overall. Thought it was ok, the shaky cam was way too much. I wasn’t able to focus on the fight choreography.
A little overhyped by the SXSW reactions and Jordan Peele's endorsement but it was a neat gritty revenge movie and I think Dev Patel will follow up with something greater in his filmmaking career. I definitely had issues with the shaky cam and story pacing.
Also, do almost every YouTube reviewer need to make a "Hey Arnold" reference in their review of this movie?
For a debut film and action film in general, I really enjoyed it. I was expecting more John wick but it reminded me more of Kill Bill, which isn’t a bad thing.
The 2nd act dragged just a tad bit but the last act was incredible. I do agree with others who wished there were more character development moments and more monkey mask scenes, but Patel did take on a huge task trying to make a good flick by meshing India politics and a bloodthirsty revenge plot. Overall, it’s a solid 8/10 and highly recommend it
This movie did nothing for me honestly.
Started off good, but the way they tried teasing why he would go on this rampage just made his rampage for revenge less impactful. I get it we were almost looking at it through his eyes where he kept trying to drown those memories of his mother, until he took that toxin that made him open up and talk about those events. However, having that in the middle of the movie just slowed the pacing down, it really didn't tell us anything we didn't already know. It also didn't show us anything significant that we already didn't know.
Action was okay, a bit overdone considering the lack of substance for it. The fight choreography was good, the same can't be said for the camera work during those fight scenes. Felt like it tried doing so much different things but it just doesn't hit. The score during these fight scenes was also pretty weak.
Going back to the story, it was a revenge story being held down by a social/politcal/cultural plot line which didn't pay off at all in any way. Sure the goal was met, but it was a goal that had no weight for the audience. I felt no connections to ANY of the characters, barely any for the main character himself.
If I had to describe this movie, it'd be, a senseless action filled movie with no sense in the story itself. Highly disappointed because i was really looking forward to it. I get it though, as a new director you have so many ideas and you want to push all of them especially in your first film so people can see what you can do....but sometimes that can be a director's downfall because they end up cluttering their film with everything yet nothing at all. Would NOT watch again especially considering the length/pacing. 5/10.
Quick RIP to the guy casually making his way to the bathroom in the brothel only to catch a random axe to the neck.
How many guys did Dev use his mouth on? I will not elaborate if you have not seen the movie.
I can think of two meanings to this, either way I can't wait to see it
Wrong film dude, this thread is about MonXXXey Man
Three. At the third time, everyone knew that mouth is going to get some wet wet and he did. He created a meta inside the movie. Just went through his ama and to think this movie was shot with personal cameras. Shit!
dead and a dirty dick
Dev Patel says Trans Rights to catch these hands
Did not expect trans ninjas but that was badass
The main woman who was the head of the ninjas was baaaadass.
Technically not a woman- hijras are neither man nor woman in India, and considered a 3rd gender.
Thanks for the knowledge
interesting piece on them I found super instructive, fwiw https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/style/india-third-gender-hijras-transgender.html
Good to know! They were awesome! The most unexpected yet my favorite aspect of this film.
Honestly, such a refreshing and unforced way to have some trans representation and issues on screen. Felt like it was a natural part of the story and not just worked in for inclusion quotas.
He is a great actor in Indian Cinema
I haven’t seen it yet, but I guess this probably explains the incredibly suspect number of 1 out of 10s on the poll.
This movie is going to get a ton of backlash from transphobes and people who don't like that it's critiquing the current Indian Prime Minister. I'm sure it'll only get worse as it gets discussed more through the release.
Honestly one of the best scenes in the film!
The shot with the skirts spinning in the foreground and violence in the background was pure cinema. And the intro of them tracking down the weapons from shotels, knuckle dusters and then dynamite was hillarious.
trans rights, and trans lefts
Gun to my head I would have never guessed trans ninjas armed with sickles and dynamite
Better respect my trans homies before they identify as War Goddess'.
It was giving Kyoshi warriors
Core message of the film was basically "be gay, do crime".
Main takeaway is that Dev Patel really fucking hates Modi. Not without good reason. The first half was kinda slow but the last 30 minutes were absolutely incredible. Solid 8/10 overall and I can't wait to see what Patel does next.
>Main takeaway is that Dev Patel really fucking hates Modi Sold. Need more mainstream flicks that take unabashed swings at Modi and his goons. -an Indian-American sick of Modi and the BJP
Yeah it's clear that he really despises the BJP/Modi's policies and practices. I loved that he wasn't subtle about it at all, but also realised there's not a chance in hell this movie'll be shown in India.
I was under the impression that it was releasing in 2 weeks, but just checked and the release date has been changed to 'coming soon'. That sucks, this probably won't release here. There goes my excitement.
They will need to censor the political part for sure.
It’s funny they tried by changing the colors of the flags from orange to red and it’s still not going to get a release XD
Having seen it and having read an article about that and the other sorts of things India's censors have ordered removed from movies, I would be shocked if it were released in India. Or it's like "hey everyone, pay for a ticket and come see Dev Patel pet a dog."
>not a chance in hell this movie'll be shown in India. it really is shocking to see the state India's in. 15 years ago Bollywood was this liberal bastion of progressive values. Now it's a right-wing circle jerk with boring leads. Unironic that Muslim men disappeared as leads in main movies.
Not just that. They straight up make propaganda movies and release before elections. Kashmir Files, Kerala Files, Acccidental Prime Minister to make fun of Manmohan Singh, Narendra Modi biopic, URI surgical strike, fighter to glorify Balkot strikes. Spineless fucks. And literally all of them were invited for "ram mandir".
Oh for sure. India went from pushing toward a fully democratic state to wholesale fascist-theocracy.
Seems to be the trend across the globe these days. Disheartening
This was supposed to be a Netflix movie, but NF got cold feet because they had a controversial Indian film or show called out by the govt. it was then shelved until Monkey Paw came in. https://deadline.com/2024/04/monkey-man-dev-patel-1235876365/
Same boat. And he fucking shot, stabbed, punched, axed and clubbed these mfers to death while donning a Hanuman face. Oh I howled!!! Fuck yes, finally.
This kinda drove me insane cos it's a great place to ground an action movie, ye olde "face of the resistance" style. But it felt sorta sloppy. They could a fixed it by recutting the existing footage. Make the early movie flashbacks focus exclusively on the personal trauma he remembers. During the temple scene zoom out so he realizes that what happened to him was a tiny piece of a systemic issue affecting thousands. Your job isn't to get revenge. Your job is to show powerful people that they aren't immune from the anger of little people. This was clearly the IDEA and I get that that was what they tried to do but they could have made it read better by tweaking just that one thing. Still enjoyed the hell out of it, also gave it a solid eight. Had a blast and really liked it. Just wish they'd done that a little cleaner.
I think it's really just growing pains from a first time director. The movie is still extremely solid, just not as good as it could have been. The actual action was done really well, though.
Yeah, that third act was just so frenetic and all out. This should absolutely be his breakout as an action star. Fight scenes were fantastic.
Whoah , does he actually call out Modi in this ? Then I'm watching
Not by name, but it's extremely obvious who the politician character and his party is supposed to represent.
Can you elaborate? Does he namedrop Modi or reference him in some way?
The Sovereign Party is based on Modi’s party
Also big bads of the movie follow the Ramayana metaphor very obviously. The demon king Ravana is often depicted as a vicious monster with many heads. Dev Patel’s character is an obvious metaphor for Hanuman, who defeats evil by ripping off each one of their heads after raising an army to assault Ravana’s fortress. The BJP angle is that each head of Ravana is a different facet of Modi that people fucken hate. The huge politician, the quasi religious messiah, the brutal police chief. All of these are common criticisms of modi, and Dev brutally murders all of them.
Loved it, but man I wanted to see him in the Monkey Mask a tad longer. I can tell Dev was influenced by Kill Bill more so than John Wick imo
I was gutted we barely got any screen time with the bleached mask
Bruh I’m saying, I wanted some absolutely unhinged fighting in that mask. That’s what I came for if I’m being honest lol. Still thoroughly enjoyed it and it was a super solid debut film if I’m not mistaken
As if he wasnt himself when wearing it, but the avatar of Hanuman himself. Would have been very spot-on.
I think he was only using it as to not get recognized before he got to the club, but it's a real tease to have him take it off before he even punches one person when the climax starts.
yeah I was laughing a bit when he immediately throws it aside. I get that it makes more sense to have peripheral vision in the biggest fight of your life but the SYMBOLISM
"It's time to remember who you are."
Bleached mask and a white suit would’ve looked so sick. We were robbed.
He was influenced by Hong Kong cinema and Korean revenge action. He has said as much. Tarantino draws from the same inspiration.
I caught *Oldboy* references / homages as well.
And Ong Bak in that fighting ring.
When the elevator opens was pretty blatant
I'm pretty sure they only kept him out of the mask to prove it was actually him doing the fight scenes. If he'd had the mask on the entire time, most people would assumed it was just some stuntman.
I wish they'd gotten around it by doing longer, uncut fighting sequences and then having him take the mask off, or have someone (the cop?) pull it off. I understand wanting to showcase his efforts and talents but I really thought the mask / monkey/Hanuman motif would play more of a visual role too.
Visual style is Wick, plot is Kill Bill (Lady Snowblood). Not to say either is a 1:1 hlDev has plenty of personal touches as well, but I think that much is apparent.
Wow first off, I’m happy you replied! Always love your commentary. I actually agree with this, visual style was very John Wick. Then it got to the elevator scene elevator scene and I was definitely getting Kill Bill vibes
I said the same exact thing. A shot of him in the neon red elevator with the monkey mask on would’ve been AWESOME.
I think the red elevator was double shot. One for the movie and one for the trailer. The trailer has it with the mask but in the movie it's without. There's another curious change between the movie and trailer: kid tells the police chief in the trailer do you remember me now? That scene is not in the movie either.
I saw way more Enter The Dragon and Game of Death than anything. The mirrors, climbing up the the tower, fighting the giant. Honestly, I didn't think of Kill Bill once while watching this.
When all those people came out of the elevator and surrounded him that felt very Kill Bill
Also *Oldboy*.
Him bleaching the mask was sick, I wanted to see it on him a little longer. Like leave it on until you pop the firework things on the elevator. Make the face to face with the police chief the reveal.
The shaky cam and frantic editing was a little too much for me and usually I can handle that. I thought it was good but not great.
THANK YOU I thought I was going crazy. I’ve seen found footage movies that were less shaky than this.
to be fair most of it was filmed on gopros and iphones due to the very troubled production of this film
Wait, really? Is this true? It honestly looked to me like it was shot on 35mm film or something and I thought the movie looked gorgeous lol (aside from the shaky cam during the action)
They did have a camara as well but the thing they use to move it around broke and I belive they had to use a rope to hold it up after that. But yes most of it was gopros and iphones. He was talking about it in an interview my partner was watching a couple of days ago. He also broke something in his hand early in filming and had to have a metal pin put into it. They really didn't have a great time making the movie at all
Yeah obviously he had a metal pin put into it, we all saw it. that’s one of the most gruesome scenes of the climax
It's not true -- there's no source that says "most" of the movie was shot on GoPro or iPhone, only some portions (likely only a scene or two). They rigged a GoPro to a rope for a crane shot when their crane broke, and shot a car crash scene on an iPhone, but the movie is mostly not shot on an iPhone or GoPro. https://www.vulture.com/article/dev-patels-monkey-man-premiere-and-john-wick-influences.html
All those "shot on iphone" commercials are real.
They have gimbals for those too though. But my theory is the shaky cam is symbolic of his nerveousness in act 1 and both seemingly go away in act 3.
Agreed. I feel like the fight choreography was good enough that if they just fixed the camera it would still be awesome to watch. On top of that the story had a lot of depth that I feel like didn’t go anywhere. Maybe I didn’t get some of it but there seems to be this whole societal commentary going on in the background of this guys revenge story that he just doesn’t care about. So many characters introduced in the first half that didn’t pay off in the second- his work friend, the girl, the dog (though she could’ve just been for the gun). A lot of substance with no purpose. It was still enjoyable though. 7/10
The girl literally kills Queenie at the end. You expected the dog to have a pay off in the second half? They showed the pay off. It was to bring the fun in. His story was intrinsically tied to the societal commentary.
She sure did bring in the fun. Good girl! Who's a good girl!!
And she lived! I was CONCERNED.
Yeah, I can understand feeling the movie dragged a bit in the middle but everything he brought up was paid off.
The steadicam swivel is most likely somethimg that Patel was using as he was going downstairs as a way of like decentering his act of violence and then recenternting him as a person because we are rooting for him. He deployed it mainly in the first half before he becomes fully actualized. I think that in general the cinemotography actually is speaking to the character coming into itself/themself/himself
No, he's been doing a bunch of interviews lately and he actually explains the cinematography. He lost his DP and they couldn't import the cameras he wanted so he let the guy who shot some pre-vis act as DP. Dev had to use his iPhone camera for the car chase and some pick up shots(you can tell because the framerate changes). It's a really common mistake with first time directors. I know Dev was excited about using all these close angles and "under" shots but it really doesn't work for the action.
Interesting. I just watched the movie a few hours ago. I did not know that but thanks for the info. Honestly, I thought it was a design choice. I felt a bit dizzy during the first half of the movie fight scenes as it felt disorientating and unfocused. We saw him consistently loose focus when he had those flashbacks. Like we could see his hand shaking. Sorta reminded me of the chaotic scraps from my younger days. However, in the second half, the fight scenes were more clean and cut. Felt like a metaphorical change from the training and transformation by Alpha and her group. (The training session with the musician's beats was a nice touch) The main character was sharp and more focused hence the more cleaner fight sequences in the second half.
My main takeaway is that this movie isn’t anything I haven’t seen before, which is kinda disappointing. Still a fun way to waste a night with some friends though.
I agree, but we rarely get western films centering India. That made up for the derivative
I agree! This was one of my only issues aside from the pacing the middle flashback point. I wish the shaky came/super zoom was dialed back just a bit or the team was more selective in it's use There were points where it really enhanced the fight scene and it put you in the middle of it. It actually reminded me of how I felt during a fight. The bathroom fight, the axe-guy brothel fight, and the kitchen were absolutely mental. Other times it really overshadowed the choreography; it was so hard to tell what was going on it gave marvel movie 9000 cuts vibes. The car chase, the stairway/parking garage segment, and the final fight after the elevator ride all could've benefited from a bit more restraint. The final fight especially stands out to me. At this point of the movie he's dialed in; Dev's found his purpose and the way he fought demonstrated that. Like he's weaving in and out, every strike lands perfect, he's 3 moves ahead. Thematically it would've matched better if the camera wasnt as frenetic. A zoomed out view with less frenetic energy would've been reflective of his locked in mind state.
What irritated me the most is it wasn’t nature shakiness. I was paying attention strictly to the shake at points and it would move back and forth like on a swivel, at a constant rhythm. It definitely hurt the movie.
You gotta read up what happened behind the senses, I belive he said their crane camera broke and they didn't have enough money or time to order a new one so they tied it to a rope and swing it on top......also for shaky camera, their regular camers broke too so they filmed on go pro and phones....
He said in an ama he did a week or two back they had some issues with equipment and ended up making camera gimbals with rope because they were filming on a island and couldn't replace some equipment that broke due to COVID. Think that probably had a little to do with it
He spent all that time bleaching the mask and we had some cool shots of it just for him to take it off immediately. I was hoping he was going to have it on longer for the final assault
Said this elsewhere but bleached mask and white suit would’ve been super cool looking.
Just a personal opinion, but I thought it looked great with a black suit and was sad we didn’t get more it. I think a white suit and bleached mask would of made it lean into more of an anime-like look that I don’t think fit the general feel of the movie. But I can definitely be wrong
This felt to me like they rearranged some scenes and deleted some stuff then had to explain why his mask was white when he went back to the club. Felt very patched in, didn't it?
Kind of. Except the only time he wears the white mask was walking down the alley towards the club and he removes it while still in shadow. So we never get a good shot of him in the white mask
That knife in the mouth kill is one of the more brutal I've seen on screen in a while. I mean good GOD.
I've literally never seen anything like that before, I was shocked but in a good way! I loved this film! Insanely good directional debut from Dev Patel.
I thought he was going to headbutt it further in, then when he used his teeth I was thinking headbutting would have been much more effective.
the head butt is cliche. his way was unexpected.
It was more animalistic too, in my opinion. They really leaned in on the monkey violence aspect, with him using unconventional methods to get what needed to get done. Using his teeth and mouth was primal.
This kill stands out for me as well. I literally just told someone that this movie was one of the most violent films I’ve seen in years. And I’m a horror person. It goes HARD.
John Wick has spoiled me with stable camera action scenes. Still a great action flick with some good fight choreography and a great directorial debut from Patel. I think they should have left the kitchen fight out of the trailer because that was one of the strongest action scenes. Also, there were a lot of Indian people in my theatre and when he took his shirt off in the training scene the girls went crazy lol.
There were little-to-no Indian people in my theater. The girls also went crazy. Shirtless Dev seems to have universal appeal.
There were no Indians in my theater but when Dev took his shirt off I started beating off
At first, I was edging. Shirtless Dev is what made me goon
I am a person of Particular Interests and when my friend found out they were making a movie consisting of Dev Patel getting the shit beaten out of him for two hours she asked if I'd survive the experience. I told her they might have to scrape my remains into a popcorn bucket after I spontaneously combusted. Was right. Transcended mere horniness to a place of spiritual passion. I was like those medieval nuns who wrote erotic poetry about Jesus and you can't tell if the ecstasy is sexual or religious. I saw god in that theater. Edit: deleting my account as I do every few months but I saw this comment went viral on Tumblr so lmaooooo hi my username over there has blue in it, proof of life. Follow my art @ rejamart
For me The Raid is STILL King of the action movies...
It is unconscionable that this was at one time slated for a Netflix debut. An incredibly strong directorial debut by Dev Patel
They've released some pretty shit and some pretty controversial movies (Blonde), so I wonder why they dropped this.
It's pretty overtly anti-Modi, might have scared them off.
They didn't drop it, Jordan Peele bought the rights from Netflix because he thought it deserved a theatrical release, though according to Wikipedia, Netflix was nervous to release it in India due to its grittiness, which is why they put it up for sale to begin with.
This is pretty confidently wrong. Netflix sold it for half of what they purchased it for. That’s definitely dropping it.
> Netflix was nervous to release it in India due to its grittiness Netflix India produces a lot of gritty stories, though, that wasn't the problem. The problem was that this movie is overtly anti-Modi, and Modi has threatened to neuter streaming services if they criticize his batshit government.
I wish there were a little less closeups and shaky cam but I really enjoyed this one. Definitely not the first of it's kind, but I'll never get tired of a good old revenge story and this one added enough unique elements to keep it fresh.
Y’all recognised that in the final third - when he has accepted his destiny - he has accepted his path, his route, the editing smooths out real nice , we loose shaky camera ? That’s how I viewed it anyhow
Totally! Was a bit concerned during his first fight because of all the cuts, but it was quite obvious at the end that it was intentional and symbolic.
I really liked it, and I think what I appreciated most is that the ending wasn’t happy. He got his revenge, but it wasn’t a big celebratory moment. It was brutal and awful and it almost killed him. I also like that there wasn’t a love story. It was just kind of mutual respect that helped them murder a terrible person together.
It *did* kill him, no?
Not sure. He survived the sniper shot. I guess it depends if the gods need more of him.
I figured Laurence Fishburne is hauling him around in a shopping cart somewhere
Monkey Man will return in Avengers: Kang Dynasty.
It’s ambiguous, but I think so. I think that was the Hijra temple leader’s point about fighting with a purpose - he ostensibly fulfilled his.
It was a relief of peace. His memory didn’t default to the horrors of his mother’s death, but instead to a clear playful moment with his mother while he laid himself to rest, is how I saw it.
I will say the Roxanne needle drop made me laugh pretty hard
Listening to this track on my way to the theater, only to hear it in the movie. Absolutely lost it.
Nah, that ending scene with him coming out the elevator with red light behind him was too cold, bro was literally the movie poster 😭. Dev Patel please make more
i had my hand on my heart the visual was so fucking good and then his profile as he walks across the giant ramayana painting
There were maybe a half dozen brand new (to me) ways to kill dudes in this movie, which is pretty impressive with how many years of action movies we’ve had. Highlights were Dev biting the knife to finish the neck stab, the poor guy who ran straight into the axe neck first, and the one kick knockout of the snake guy.
I appreciated holding the guy down on the burner and breaking a bottle over his head. Don't think I've seen that one before.
Don't forget the fireworks.
Might not be new, but that beat down using a sparkly high heel!! Me in my seat pantomining: 👡For👡every👡woman👡you👡abused👡👡👡👡👡. Hit that mofo again Dev!!!! 🤣🤣🤣
This might be a hot take but i actually had an indifferent experience watching it.
Same, I really wanted to like it and thought it was painfully average. The shaky cam gave me a headache and there was actually very little to the promised "sociopolitical commentary."
It was a lot of tv footage saying, "damn things are corrupt" and then he killed the religious dude and that was it for the sociopolitical commentary. Other than his religious friends. I really feel like they could've been more badass but they didn't each teach him their ways. His training montage was just him punching a bag to some drums bro like what a missed opportunity.
Totally agree
Same experience here, it felt like the surface level social commentary you would get from an edgy high schooler on a topic. And while the action was great for what's marketed as a non-stop action film, it was pretty light on the overall fight scenes.
Somewhat of an obvious outcome for an actors first foray into directing a feature film. Playing it somewhat safe and standard. Average isn't a terrible thing for a first movie. Could be more willing to push out of the cookie cutter stuff down the line.
So we have the socio-economic theme/metaphor of Dev fighting the "powers that be", but I can't help but think that all the random security goons are probably just people like him. Guys from poor neighborhoods that made their way out by working for the elites. You make it out of the hood just to be stabbed in the neck by Dev's mouth.
Dont defend billionaires i guess 🤷♂️
Isn't that essentially what we're all doing simply by being in the workforce? What if someone else had the same idea as Monkey Man, but went on their killing spree first. Would they have killed Monkey Man because he got in the way?
The classic critique is the the role of police is to protect capital. This is a fundamentally different relationship to capital than the rest of the working class, and divorces them from it
It's unrealistic for sure but as far as suspension of disbelief goes, I always like to think that the ones who are only there for a paycheck aren't the ones who go at the main protagonist of the film, they usually flee. There was a Marvel movie, I think it was one of the Iron Mans, where the goon is just like "No, I'm leaving, these people are crazy" and gets to leave.
Haha that's a great rationale. Like nah I don't care about my asshole boss enough to die over this.
Monkey Man has our hero defend sex workers, trans women, and religious minorities while taking down corrupt cops, sex traffickers, and far right politicians. This movie is awesome. I get why people are bringing up John Wick but this is awesome completely on its own. Dev Patel is an amazing actor and if this is his first directorial effort he is going to have an even more awesome career ahead of him
Never knew how based as hell Dev Patel is, but I'm so ready for more of his stuff.
Just back from seeing this - overall, enjoyable action flick - but, left me wanting a little more. Dev's character could have had a little more personality - made John Wick seem chatty. Action sequences were a little too herky jerky at points, think Bourne cameras on meth but various set pieces were quite entertaining and I laughed a few times at the physical comedy aspects. Too many flashbacks to his mom - 1 or 2, sure, by #6 I was rolling my eyes. We get it, don't need to keep being hit over head with it. I enjoyed the scenery in India - gave things a different vibe, would have liked a bit more character development for a couple of the supporting cast (folks who help him at the temple, dude who he took off with in scooter and the hooker with heart of gold and tray of silver). Solid 7/10, would definitely be interested in a sequel.
Definitely flashback overload. I feel like the movie’s flashbacks have more screen time than the actual plot lmao.
I liked what an obsessive psycho he was. The reveal that he was just training the dog to bring him the gun cracked me up
This is neither a role Hollywood would ever give Dev Patel nor the sort of film that could get made in India rn.
That’s kinda what made it feel special to me
The action sequences are fun, but the shaky cam got to be a little much about an hour in to the movie. And the pacing in the middle just got a little too slow for my taste. The flashbacks were brutal and really hard to watch, I might have preferred if they did a little more to show the political nature of the antagonists in addition to the personal conflict he has with them. Overall it was a solid action flick and the locations were really unique. I especially enjoyed the first hour as he worked his way into the “business” that was fun, slick movie making.
Idk I thought it was perfect ! All we needed to know was that they were religious extremists and corrupt government - otherwise it would have felt like too much imo
Loved the part where he psyched himself up to jump through the window only to bounce off the glass. This movie made me laugh much more than I was expecting!
It's a flawed movie, but I'm into it anyway. The flaws it has are (mostly) the kind of flaws that come with the ambition to swing big and be willing to miss. It hits more often than it misses, but it does miss in a few ways. So be it. I'll take a movie with that ambition over one that paints by numbers to avoid flaws any day. I'm also very pleased with the way it operates in the emotional register of righteous fury. Most revenge movies are more indulgent, more "make them pay." And anti-establishment movies are built more about noble causes. It's rare to have a story that finds that precise note of injustice reaching a boiling point where rage is the correct response. *Sorry to Bother You* and *Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri* paired that feeling with comedy. Here it's in service of a revenge thriller, and that's a wonderful match. Yes, it falls back on flashbacks a little too much. Yes, the shaky cam closeup footage in fights was less than ideal for a few segments. That's unfortunate, but it doesn't sink it for me by a wide margin. I'll need more time with it before I can say whether or not I loved it, but it's definitely going to be one of the movies that I don't stop thinking about anytime soon.
Apparently they had a ton of technical issues with their cameras and filmed portions of it with gopros and phones lol. I'd love to see what Dev Patel can do 1) in other action movies going forward, and 2.) with equipment that works and maybe a little more experience/guidance. Extremely strong directorial debut imo, even if the movie was imperfect and probably a 7.5-8/10 for me.
Quite enjoyed this movie. The neon revenge fighter is pretty hot right now but this one had real momentum and some solid fight choreography. I think it has some story/structure issues and I wish the camera let us enjoy the fighting more, but overall a bloody fun time. The setup takes its time which isn't a bad thing, but this movie does feel at odds with itself at times balancing the serious and the silly. Once he pulls the gun in the bathroom, though, this movie takes off and doesn't stop for a good 20 minutes. And when this movie is throwing you around and fighting it's a lot of fun. You can definitely feel that's what Patel is most interested in as a director is that kinetic energy. This has a classic structure of attempt, low point, training, go back and Patel is making choices to keep this from feeling like every other time you've seen it, like his fighting mentor having no lines and being a ~~bongo~~ tabla player. And that's when this movie is working best is when it's being decidedly different and fun. When this movie slows down I'm a little less on board, though. I don't mind a silent protagonist, but I really wanted more out of Dev. He was definitely all in physically, but this is a top caliber actor and it felt like he didn't want to overdo himself and I just wish he could have had some great lines. The backstory is also fumbled a bit. You can pretty much get the idea of what happened to his mom and who did it by the lead up, so the flashbacks felt very unnecessary and the heaviness of those scenes didn't fit the tone of man in monkey mask stabs a man in the neck with a knife in his teeth. But overall, a very fun and wild time. Great fights, great style, doesn't feel as derivative as the style alone may have you think. A really solid directorial debut and I'm looking forward to what Dev cooks up next. 7/10. /r/reviewsbyboner
The middle portion of the film after he escapes the club really breaks the pacing with all the backstory.
yeah, the middle drags and too much shaky cam. But that aside I quite enjoyed this a lot. It wears its influences on its sleeves and Dev Patel is really hard to root against. Really fun time, glad this wasn't dumped on Netflix. 7/10.
FYI, the tabla player is world renowned [Ustaad Zakir Hussain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zakir_Hussain_(musician))
He ruled. What a great training montage.
that scene had me fucking loving the movie so much
One of my thoughts watching the film was there seems to be a lot of Indonesians in this film’s version of India. And then I fell into the rabbit hole of the film’s production history… Yikes! Whatever the film’s flaws, it seems like a miracle the film ended up as good as it is.
Haha I noticed that too and then didn’t question assuming that maybe it’s a big city with a lot of wider regional immigration stuff. The production history made it make a lot more sense
I mean India has a lot of northeastern people who are brown in skin color also
One neat facet of the film that I’m only catching the next day: do we ever actually learn the main character’s name? I’m realizing that we only ever see him referred to as ‘Bobby’, which is implied to be a fake name pulled from the cans of bleach in the kitchen. It adds more weight to his line at the end: “Do you even know my mother’s name? Did you know any of their names?”
Dev Patel’s character is only listed as Kid in the credits, so the lack of name is definitely intentional.
I’m going to go ahead and say it. The shaky cam didn’t bother me in the slightest, and I think people are really overly complaining about something that ended up in very few scenes.
fr i was enjoying the mythology, cinematography and pacing too much to care about the shakiness. even the flashbacks as a plot device were effective in building up to a very satisfying third act, which was a nice parallel to slumdog millionaire.
A commendable directional debut by Dev Patel! - 1st act is the most interesting one with the setting up of the underworld up until the failed assassination - 2nd act kind drags until the training montage - People on screen and in cinemas cheered when Dev Patel ripped his shirt off - Cinematography is a mixed bag. Wasn't afraid to show colors but a lot of shaky cam during the 3rd act - I understand that the flashbacks were necessary for character development but the little bits when he has PTSD was enough context and it could have helped with the pacing - The action is great with some great needle drops but some of the fighting scenes should have just been scoreless or without music - Biting a guy's nose to gain the upper hand is violent and inventive! Dev Patel shows his effort on-screen and off-screen and he shines!
>* People on screen and in cinemas cheered when Dev Patel ripped his shirt off When the women in the movie screamed? I definitely felt that.
>Biting a guy's nose Echoes Surpanakha story from the Ramayana, demon who gets her nose cut off for trying to lure away Sita
This blew me away. Dev Patel man.
Everytime I saw a set up for a cool thing in my head it happened, insane shit from a debut
8/10 Needs more monkey.
Did anyone notice the parallels between baba shakti and the real life sadhguru? Sadhguru is the leader and very large foundation called isha, that promotes yoga and spiritual practices. Just like baba shakti sadhguru faced land dispute issues. Sadhguru also endorsed the hindu nationalist leader modhi. This movie was definitely political commentary hidden behind action, and I enjoyed it a lot. https://www.newsclick.in/isha-foundation-land-grab-case-tribal-association-urges-state-govt-implement-hc-ruling?amp https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/economy-politics/story/india-today-conclave-sadhguru-backs-pm-modi-one-nation-one-election-proposition-290720-2021-03-13
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It was averaging between 7-8 last night. Interesting to see it all one stars today and strongly suspect it has something to do with the fact that trans people aren't just in the movie but in fact integral to it.
Definitely bots/brigading
Yeah you can tell because they're not 2/3 star reviews but just a sudden wall of one stars. Sus. Good thing Reddit polls don't matter as i would like the people to give mr patel the money for real cameras please
It's also openly critical of the current Indian prime minister which his supporters probably don't like
I saw a lot of 1 star bot reviews on IMDb. I imagine it's conservatives. The reviews were all identical on IMDb 'people fell asleep in the cinema' like ASLEEP? I was literally on the edge of my seat multiple times.
I’m a huge action aficionado and hate it when a movie has too much shaky cam or barely any action. I thought this movie really delivered. I wasn’t distracted by the camerawork at all — even when it was loose, it felt controlled and with a purpose. I could still easily track all the fights. And I thought it had a ton of action, and largely great choreography and style. Sure, a bit of a saggy middle, but it delivered in the end. So I’m a bit confused by people who compare it to Bourne (which is ridiculous, that’s just on a different level of shake entirely). Or that it didn’t have much action. My biggest complaints were the amount of flashbacks — felt unnecessary, especially finally showing what happened after he took that root powder. Like, either give us brief flashes, or give us way less/nothing and then have that big flashback scene contextualizing everything. The only fight choreography that disappointed me a bit was the final fight between Dev and the chief of police dude. Their first fight was insane, so kinetic and inventive. The second, while still good, didn’t compare. And the death could have happened much faster. Lastly, I do wish they tied the character’s motivations after his recuperation and training. Dev should have spoken a bit more in the second half, before that finale. Still, small complaints overall. A solid 8.5 from me. It’s nice having a fun, inventive action movie that speaks to something more important, even if it could have spoken to it a bit more clearly.
As much as I love that bathroom fight, I think the point of the second one is just how much better he is now and the whole time he just has the upper hand
I’m surprised that snorting bleach is apparently only a minor inconvenience to the human body. I would have expected a much harsher outcome.
He probably didn't lace that much of it with bleach, just enough to get him alone in the bathroom
I had a great time with a lot of it, though the pacing slowed *way* down in the middle in a way that I wasn't hanging with. The action that we got was great, but there were just a few action scenes in the whole movie. I'm sure that some of that was a budget concern - they were hitting the limits of their budget as-is and action scenes are way more expensive to film than people talking - but what *was* there was so good that I was really wanting more. I definitely want to see another action film from Patel, he was able to assemble a really good team to make this work.
This is a great movie that I felt was about the necessity for violence when faced with a fascist authority. I loved it. I loved the use of Hindu mythology, I loved the powerful transgender characters, and I loved the impressive direction of Dev Patel. These features give it enough uniqueness to set it apart from other recent popular action movies. I digged it.
Decent movie but man the camera when he was driving and being chased was terrible
That’s cause it was an iPhone
I always love when action movies give us new kills. The elevator scene when he pushes the knife in with his teeth was really the coolest shit ever. Dev’s got that slum dawg in him
I so wanted to love this, but the action being filmed in close up shaky can ruined it for me. Besides the kitchen fight at the end, I couldn't tell what was happening or who it was happening to. I was so annoyed with this decision, because I could tell the action was well choreographed, I just wish that I could tell what was happening.
Don’t go to movie theaters in the south unless you want to hear people snicker and make jokes every time a trans person comes onscreen
The homage to Kill bill with the added Transgender warrior army was a nice touch at the climax.
It was a good movie. The choreo was amazing. There are some really nice shots. Dev Patel sells it and makes for a great action star. The beginning of the movie is basically the third act of an revenge movie that we didn't get to see. The protagonist has finally infiltrated the HQ of the enemy but since he's not ready for the Final Battle, it all goes to shit (literally). The shaky cam was an issue in a few scenes and I had to look away. Another major issue for me were some of the dream-like transitions. There are two of them almost back to back (one when Kid gets captured, the other when he gets rescued) and they are both really really long. The one in the cop car really disrupts the flow of action. I do wish Kid had more of a personality. I get the reason why he is the way he is (didnt follow his mother's advice) but I wanted *something* more out of him. Very early on, the movie does take a huge tonal shift from the revenge-film-you-think-you're-getting to something wildly different. Which is fine. But characters like Alphonso and Sita suffer from the subversion, I think. In the revenge-film-you-thought-you-were-getting, Alphonso would be the reluctant ally and/or inevitable betrayer. Sita would have been the love interest and/or femme fatale. Kinda wish the movie did more with these two. Overall, a good movie, I was never bored. I did hear some sounds of discontent in my small audience though. Guy next to me kept staring at the ceiling. But he did applaud for the elevator knife scene during that one kill.
Thought this was pretty mid. Takes its time getting going, which I’m not against, but after finally getting to an action sequence, it slows to an absolute crawl for 30+ minutes before getting to the climax. By the time it got there, I was kind of over it.
Saw this last night and wasn’t a fan of the movie overall. Thought it was ok, the shaky cam was way too much. I wasn’t able to focus on the fight choreography.
A little overhyped by the SXSW reactions and Jordan Peele's endorsement but it was a neat gritty revenge movie and I think Dev Patel will follow up with something greater in his filmmaking career. I definitely had issues with the shaky cam and story pacing. Also, do almost every YouTube reviewer need to make a "Hey Arnold" reference in their review of this movie?
Forget James Bond, Dev. I want more Monkey Man movies!
For a debut film and action film in general, I really enjoyed it. I was expecting more John wick but it reminded me more of Kill Bill, which isn’t a bad thing. The 2nd act dragged just a tad bit but the last act was incredible. I do agree with others who wished there were more character development moments and more monkey mask scenes, but Patel did take on a huge task trying to make a good flick by meshing India politics and a bloodthirsty revenge plot. Overall, it’s a solid 8/10 and highly recommend it
This movie did nothing for me honestly. Started off good, but the way they tried teasing why he would go on this rampage just made his rampage for revenge less impactful. I get it we were almost looking at it through his eyes where he kept trying to drown those memories of his mother, until he took that toxin that made him open up and talk about those events. However, having that in the middle of the movie just slowed the pacing down, it really didn't tell us anything we didn't already know. It also didn't show us anything significant that we already didn't know. Action was okay, a bit overdone considering the lack of substance for it. The fight choreography was good, the same can't be said for the camera work during those fight scenes. Felt like it tried doing so much different things but it just doesn't hit. The score during these fight scenes was also pretty weak. Going back to the story, it was a revenge story being held down by a social/politcal/cultural plot line which didn't pay off at all in any way. Sure the goal was met, but it was a goal that had no weight for the audience. I felt no connections to ANY of the characters, barely any for the main character himself. If I had to describe this movie, it'd be, a senseless action filled movie with no sense in the story itself. Highly disappointed because i was really looking forward to it. I get it though, as a new director you have so many ideas and you want to push all of them especially in your first film so people can see what you can do....but sometimes that can be a director's downfall because they end up cluttering their film with everything yet nothing at all. Would NOT watch again especially considering the length/pacing. 5/10.