Monkey Man 4K 2024 2160p WEB

The plot is about an enigmatic Indian fighter, Mankiman (Patel), who wants to avenge his mother's death.

Monkey Man 4K Review
In the fictional Indian city of Jatana, a nameless protagonist on the border between noble poverty and starvation struggles to survive, mostly addressed as “Hey, kid” (Dev Patel). The guy ekes out a living on odd jobs, and at night he goes into the underground ring in a gorilla mask against other similarly depersonalized fighters to please the bloodthirsty public and keep Tiger's (Sharlto Copley) small bookmaking empire afloat. But there's a gaping wound in Guy's heart, fueled by a seething rage and a thirst for revenge: as a child he witnessed the brutal murder of his mother (Aditi Kalkunte) by police chief Rana (Sikandar Kher) as the corrupt police destroyed his home village. When Parnia manages to get a job in an establishment where the city's upper class gathers, he slowly but surely begins to move closer to realizing his plan for bloody revenge.

The simple plot of “Mankiman” will fit on one sheet. The hero loses a loved one, then himself in an abyss of rage and despair, prepares a terrible revenge, passes tests, overcomes obstacles and finally accomplishes his plan. Does it make him feel better? Each author answers the burning question in his own way. Someone leads the audience to the idea of the all-consuming, sizzling everything in its path nature of violence, someone stops half a step away from moralizing and puts only action at the head of the action. Dev Patel took a different approach and added a social context to the story. India's population only officially speaks 21 languages and practices five religions, which, coupled with poverty, high levels of corruption and low levels of education, leads to tragedies based on hatred and xenophobia. The village where Guy was born has been destroyed on the orders of an increasingly popular religious leader, Baba Shakti (Makrand Deshpande), only to build a mega-factory in the vacant space. Shakti, in turn, serves the interests of a corrupt politician running for mayor of Jatan from a nationalist party whose slogans are similar to the rhetoric of one not-so-famous orange ex-president of the United States. Patel's background is a real news report that captures the aggression and chaos in society, fueled from above: pogroms in Muslim and Christian neighborhoods, violent crackdowns on peaceful demonstrations, and other horrors.

Even Jatana, the name of the city where the events of the movie unfold, is translated from Hindi as “torture”. And the Boy, who does not close his eyes for a second, a lump of nerves, living only with the thought of revenge, is the spawn of the tormented people, a real national hero, revived the myth of the monkey-god Hanuman. Patel deliberately and cleverly weaves Hindu motifs into a modern, albeit grotesque plot about corrupt officials and their victims. During a press conference at the SXSW festival where the movie premiered, the debutant said:

“I think the system sometimes abuses action movies. And I'd like to give the genre soul, trauma, real pain. [...] And bring a little bit of culture to it.”

With culture, “Mankiman” handles it carefully and thoroughly. Patel's India is equally palpable in a gleaming skyscraper among the corrupt rich and sad-eyed escorts, and in a slum drenched in the smells of sweat, burning oil and masala, where children sleep on newspapers in the middle of the streets. The viewer's attunement to screen life is facilitated by an extremely tactile camera, neurotic editing and colossal visual density. Patel-director uses general plans rarely but skillfully, concentrating mainly on “close-ups” and details, getting under the skin of his characters - a fashionable technique among economical debutants. And one of the best scenes in the whole movie can be called the most complicated scene of traveling the purse of one of the antagonists in the hands of Guy on the streets of the city raging with poor but bright life.

The situation is slightly overshadowed when it comes to the action. Despite his impressive physicality and undoubted preparation for the role, Patel doesn't boast a stunt background or a wealth of action movie experience. Where dramatic talents give way to hand-to-hand combat, Patel the actor pities his partners on the set with his characteristic nobility. Therefore, the fights, though brutal, are slow. In some moments the lack of dynamics can be hidden with the help of montage in the spirit of Jason Bourne movies or clever rapids, but the spectacle still suffers. As a compensation the audience is offered, firstly, the length of action scenes: the first really significant one lasts for good 15 minutes, and locations change faster than in any adventure movie. And secondly, the moderation that Chad Stahelski lost in the fourth “John Wick”: Patel perfectly grasped the essence of modern action movies and bet on the rapid, fierce, dense clashes that make up the choreography of action scenes. Buying a gun, Guy gets free advice from the salesman: a revolver is a killer if you get close enough. “Closer is fine with me,” replies the hero.

“Mankiman” is doomed not only to excellent press, but also at least to the sympathy of the audience. Dev Patel's film, though not devoid of the traditional pains of a movie debut, but made with disarming love. And the long and thorny path of the picture from the idea to a full-fledged theater premiere someday may be the basis of an excellent production thriller about patience and will (Patel first dissuaded from filming producers, then the process almost derailed the pandemic, and when the film was still made, without the production patronage of Jordan Peele in theaters could not get at all). Many critics after the release of “Mankiman” began to talk about a revolution in the genre, which is perhaps an overly bold statement. But, if you will, Patel's directorial debut can be characterized as a post-action film - a more soulful, sensual, culturally engaged subgenre of the action film that does not forget about brutality, but is also no stranger to humanity.