Action Movie Monkey Man Compared to John Wick & The Raid, Lands Fresh Rotten Tomatoes Score

March 13, 2024

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Summary

Audiences and critics are raving about Dev Patel’s debut as an action hero and director in
Monkey Man
.
The film has been compared to modern action classics like
John Wick
and
The Raid
, with Patel being praised for his skills.
Monkey Man
follows Kid on a quest for brutal revenge, featuring a star-studded cast including Sharlto Copley and Sobhita Dhulipala.

The new action movie Monkey Man from actor and director Dev Patel has been met with rave reviews following its debut at SXSW, being compared to the likes of such modern action classics as John Wick and The Raid. Directed by Dev Patel in his feature directorial debut, and from a screenplay he co-wrote with Paul Angunawela and John Collee, Monkey Man now holds a ‘fresh’ score of 88% on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, with critics heaping praise on both Patel’s filmmaking skills and his lead performance.

Monkey Man was met with a standing ovation at SXSW, with one audience member calling the action outing “a visually spectacular revenge action movie that draws from Bruce Lee, Korean cinema, The Raid & John Wick.” Another calls the movie “absolutely phenomenal,” while further comments say, “Dev Patel comes out swinging, stabbing, and pulverizing in his hard-hitting debut.”

Starring Dev Patel as the main character, Kid, who sets out on a quest for brutal and bloody revenge, Monkey Man also stars Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Sobhita Dhulipala, Sikandar Kher, Vipin Sharma, Ashwini Kalsekar, Adithi Kalkunte, and Makarand Deshpande.

Could Dev Patel Be the Next Big Action Icon?

The Hollywood Reporter’s Lovia Gyarkye heaped praise on Patel’s debut as an action hero and director, declaring that the actor has “only grown” since his early career.

“Patel makes a fine hero. The actor is a consistently charming presence whose capabilities have only grown since Skins and his breakthrough role in Slumdog.”

Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com, meanwhile, calls Monkey Man the “origin story” of Patel as a future action star and filmmaker.

“Monkey Man may be an origin story for a future action franchise character, but it feels more to me like an origin story for a future action star and director.”

The John Wick comparisons continue courtesy of TheWrap’s Chase Hutchinson, who agrees that Patel could well be the next big action icon.

“Just as Kid is reborn in the film, so too is Patel. It requires fighting a bloody battle, but what a beautiful sight it is to see. Forget John Wick, let no one doubt the power of action star Dev Patel again.”

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That’s not to say there wern’t some mixed reactions, with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff concluding that the experience is at times “deflating.”

“Monkey Man is a true mixed bag. The action is staggeringly impressive, both from a visual and storytelling standpoint, but the material in between runs the risk of deflating the experience via pacing problems and narrative confusion.”

You can check out the official synopsis for Monkey Man below.

“Inspired by the legend of Hanuman, an icon embodying strength and courage, Monkey Man stars Dev Patel as Kid, an anonymous young man who ekes out a meager living in an underground fight club where, night after night, wearing a gorilla mask, he is beaten bloody by more popular fighters for cash. After years of suppressed rage, Kid discovers a way to infiltrate the enclave of the city’s sinister elite. As his childhood trauma boils over, his mysteriously scarred hands unleash an explosive campaign of retribution to settle the score with the men who took everything from him.”

Monkey Man
is scheduled to be released in the United States by Universal Pictures on April 5, 2024.