Monkey Man

For what it is, it's quite effective and Patel is a credible action hero.

Over-the-top violence is rarely this much fun. First time directors are rarely this skillful.

Brutal, bone-crunching, neck-gouging set pieces, some great musical choices...

This is a tense, engaging thriller where people are stabbed, shot, dismembered, and killed in a variety of graphic and unspeakable fashions. Monkey Man may be a silly-sounding title but the story it tells is anything but silly.

Dev Patel tries too hard, and for too much, in his directorial debut, but he's compelling enough to make you believe almost anything.

Monkey Man is not perfect, but it does not have to be. The film feels alive, with all the rush of Drive or Uncut Gems. This is not Bollywood — nobody sings — but rhythm is key.

Monkey Man is definitely Patel's singular vision&#59; because of that, it's scrappy, occasionally confounding, messy, and ultimately compelling.


Monkey Man feels so close to being a really great and different action movie.

Patel gives the film everything, injecting the action film genre with a new kind of cinema beast, one built to take a beating and find his revenge the cold, hard way. It's the first time I've left a film in 2024 and felt, "wow."

Dev Patel’s controversial action film worships two gods, Hanuman and Amitabh Bachchan.