There's a lot of monkey movies coming out this year, isn't there? That's weird. Anyway, the trailers of this movies were so cool, I was so ready for this movie. Apparently Netflix was sitting on this movie for three years before Jordan Peele paid to have it released everywhere instead of just online. Which just proves that Jordan Peele is one of the coolest guys in the world.
What's The Movie About?
Dev Patel's mom gets killed by the chief of all Indian police, so he plans a massive revenge scheme to kill his mom's killer as well as his dead beat dad.
What I Like.
For starters, the story is pretty simple, but unfolds in an incredibly entertaining way. Technically my rundown is a spoiler since you don't know why Dev Patel wants to get revenge at the beginning of the movie, or even that he wants revenge. The characters, similarly, are simple but very likable if they are good guys, and completely disgusting if they are the antagonists. My particular highlight is the sect of Shiva/Parvati worshippers who train Dev after his first assassination attempt fails. Speaking of which, I love the trans rep in the movie. The action is brutal and bloody, every fight feels like a desperate struggle. It flows extremely well with the themes of class resentment and rage that permeate the story as a whole. I also thought the music was really damn good. Not an action scene goes by without the perfect accompaniment, whether it be score or licensed music. And sometimes it's a song you wouldn't think they'd use but it still works brilliantly. I've had Jefferson Airplane's Somebody To Love stuck in my head all week.
What I Don't Like.
My big complaint is that a couple scenes are shot in such a way that is nigh impossible to see what is going on. Either there is a ton of close ups on characters that frankly seem unnecessary, or the shaky cam and lack of focus purposefully obscuring what is happening. There's also a female character that is pretty unnecessary as well, although I guess if she wasn't in it the only female characters are a evil mistress and the dead mom and I probably ding the movie for that. Finally, the subtitling is inconsistent. I'm fine with translating some of the Hindi but not all of it, because what they don't translate you can figure out what it means through context if you don't speak the language, but they subtitle some English lines for some reason.
Final Summation.
Hoolee Shet! Monkey Man is fucking AWESOME! The only question I need to figure out is which movie was better, this or Beekeeper. I mean, both movies are revenge movies with themes and morals I like and are full of brutal and fun action. Beekeeper was better shot, and it was more clear what was happening at any given time. But Monkey Man has a better story and cooler action scenes over all, so I think I give the edge to Dev. Sorry Jason Statham!
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