‘Monkey Man’ Review: It’s Dev Patel Vs. India Basically

April 4, 2024

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

To monkey, or not to monkey? (CREDIT: Universal Studios)

Starring: Dev Patel, Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Vipin Sharma, Sikander Kher, Sobhita Dhulipala, Ashwini Kalsekar, Adithi Kalkunte, Makharand Deshpande

Director: Dev Patel

Running Time: 121 Minutes

Rating: R for Brutal Boxing, Gunfire, and Knife Fights and Love and Drugs in the Club

Release Date: April 5, 2024 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Revenge. It’s not a healthy motivation in life, but it is a surefire cinematic formula. Has Dev Patel struck gold with this evergreen plot in his directorial debut Monkey Man? He’s certainly got the lean and mean torso and a similarly stripped-down screenplay to make his vengeance hum. He stars as Kid, who’s basically an avatar for the entire underclass of India. After his mother is killed when he’s a child, he dedicates the rest of his life to exacting justice against the businessmen and politicians who are responsible. And when he’s not on this warpath, he stays in fighting shape by competing in underground boxing matches while wearing a monkey mask.

What Made an Impression? The Gods Must Be Angry: Monkey Man opens with Kid’s mother telling him the story of Hanuman, a Hindu deity who mistakes the sun for a giant mango and is then punished by the gods when he attempts to snatch it out of the sky. (Interestingly enough, Hanuman kind of looks like Curious George in the picture book that Kid’s mom reads from.) I’m not terribly familiar with Hindu theology, but I tend to enjoy it when a modern tale is undergirded by the rich storytelling tradition of religion and mythology. The powerful of India have been justifying their control of the country in the name of Hinduism for far too long, and it’s time for the Hanumans of the world like Kid to stand up and say enough is enough.
God, It’s Brutal Out There: Dev Patel absolutely takes a beating in Monkey Man, and he makes sure that we feel his pain as well. If I had to define his auteur style after one attempt, it would be “slick and visceral.” Of course, we’ll see if his career becomes more varied if he continues to work behind the camera. But for now, he certainly comes out firing in the first act. When a messy assassination attempt in a fancy bathroom leads to a bloody street chase in the first 20 minutes or so, I thought, “There’s no way they can keep up this pace for the entire two hours.” And well, they don’t, as Patel struggles to keep things compelling in the movie’s quieter moments. That’s hardly surprising, as a story this elemental and pared-down probably would have hit harder in a tight 90 minutes. Still, Patel’s hungriest instincts and loyalty to the little guy make for a mostly rousing accomplishment.

Monkey Man is Recommended If You Like: Kill Bill, John Wick, Kung Fu, The Ramayana

Grade: 3 out of 5 Mangoes

Wow, ‘The Green Knight’ Sure Might Knock Your Head Loose

July 28, 2021

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

The Green Knight (CREDIT: Eric Zachanowich/A24)

Starring: Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury, Sean Harris, Kate Dickie, Barry Keoghan, Ralph Ineson, Erin Kellyman

Director: David Lowery

Running Time: 130 Minutes

Rating: R for Violence and a Little Bit of Sex Within a Fantastical Swirl

Release Date: July 30, 2021 (Theaters)

My experience of watching The Green Knight was just moment after moment that had me going, “I was not expecting THAT.” It starts off pretty quickly that way: Sir Gawain (Dev Patel) beheads the Green Knight (Ralph Ineson), but the Green Knight keeps right on talking. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that. If you’re familiar with the source material, this inciting incident won’t be surprising at all, but for the rest of us, it won’t exactly feel telegraphed. Then there’s the fact that this tale takes place around Christmas, which certainly surprised me as well. Although perhaps it shouldn’t have, considering that “green” is in the title and much of the poster is bright red. But other than that, this movie doesn’t feel very Christmas-y. Though I suppose that centuries ago the holiday was celebrated differently. (“Why not have a release date in December instead of July?,” I wonder out loud.)

The poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight sits at a weird place in terms of cultural recognizability. It’s part of Arthurian legend, which is among the most enduringly popular mythologies in the English language. But this particular tale isn’t typically told in the most well-known adaptations. If you’re a fan of the likes of Camelot, The Sword in the Stone, or Monty Python and the Holy Grail, you might be familiar with the name “Gawain,” but his encounter with a tricky tree-man hybrid could be totally undiscovered. It’s a trip to first encounter it via David Lowery’s highly stylized and uncompromising vision.

I’m willing to bet my sword that anyone who has read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight before seeing this movie also found themselves saying multiple times, “I was not expecting THAT.” (But they would have been saying it while reading.) There’s no way in Camelot that Lowery can take all the credit for every fantastical twist of gamesmanship and illogic. What is the Green Knight’s deal anyway? When he gets beheaded, he insists that Gawain must come find him one year hence to meet a similar fate. Is this a test of honor, and if so, how? I was not expecting that much confusion.

But it kept coming! Was Alicia Vikander playing two different characters? She must have been, as her personalities were so vastly different. I was not expecting such vagueness with her identity. Nor was I expecting an up-close shot of a very intimate moment. The mature themes and capriciousness in a medieval fantasy aren’t surprises in and of themselves, but their presentation in this version were a lot more surreal than I was prepared for. I’m still processing what I’ve witnessed, and I’m not sure that process will ever be complete, but I appreciate the singularity of the vision.

The Green Knight is Recommended If You Like: Embracing the weirdest and most inscrutable elements of mythology

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Beheadings

Movie Review: ‘Hotel Mumbai’ Dramatizes a Massive Tragedy Unflinchingly But With Only Fleeting Insight

March 20, 2019

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

CREDIT: Mark Rogers/Bleecker Street

Starring: Dev Patel, Armie Hammer, Nazanin Boniadi, Anupam Kher, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Jason Isaacs, Amandeep Singh

Director: Anthony Maras

Running Time: 125 Minutes

Rating: R for Constant Deadly Gunfire and Plenty of Profanity

Release Date: March 22, 2019 (Limited)

A lot of real-life historical tragedies have been dramatized on screen, but rarely has it felt as exploitative as it does in Hotel Mumbai. Part of that is due to the deadly nature of the attacks, in which hundreds of people were killed or injured by explosives and gunfire, often at close range. It is also attributable to director Anthony Maras’ decision to show so many of the deaths in graphic, bloody detail. The 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks that culminated at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel were indeed quite terrifying, but what does this dramatization illuminate besides reminding us that tragedies like this one have happened and that they are often fueled by religious extremism?

If there is to be anything valuable on offer here, it would presumably be about forging some sort of connection with the characters. And on that score, there are people that I care about and are rooting to make it out alive, but their stories are not especially unique. Among those with the most fully fleshed-out arcs, there is the guest (Armie Hammer) who is trying to protect his family, the hotel employee (Dev Patel) who is trying to make it home to his family, and the head chef (Anupam Kher) who rises up as a leader and comforter. These roles are well-acted, and some (if not all) are surely based on real people, but their stories do not say much beyond, “This is how certain people react to trauma.” But among the perpetrators (all young men who look to be in their early twenties) there is Imran (Amandeep Singh), who starts to question what he is fighting for as the mission drags on. That is where the real, complicated story is at, but alas, his personal crisis only gets a handful of moments, leaving Hotel Mumbai an endurance test without much to mentally grapple with after making it through.

Hotel Mumbai is Recommended If You Like: Witnessing trauma

Grade: 2.5 out of 5 Casualties

This Is a Movie Review: Lion

January 29, 2017

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , Leave a comment

lion-movie-sunny-pawar

Why did Lion not get a full wide release right from the get-go? It’s an insanely inspiring true-life story about the triumph of the human spirit and love knowing no geographical bounds. This is the sort of story that people want to see! When you tell me, “Saroo Brierley got lost as a boy on a train in India and couldn’t find his way home, but 20 years later, after being adopted by an Australian couple, he finds his way back with the help of Google Earth,” what do I say? Just point and shoot! Well, don’t just point and shoot. Throw in some cinematic style as well, as we’ve already been inspired plenty of times. Like maybe include some flashbacks and subjective POV shots to indicate that Saroo’s family continues to walk alongside him even as they are no longer physically there. Yeah, that’ll do.

I give Lion 1 Tear for Fear, and 19 Tears for Joy.