British actor Dev Patel is back to winning hearts through his onscreen performances with his most recent masterpiece, Monkey Man. Based in India (though shot in Indonesia), the film not only marks his directorial feature debut but also stars him in a never-seen-before role: A young man named ‘Kid’, who finally gets to settle the score with the people who took everything from him.
While the film is a masterwork in itself, multiple themes and elements have led to it being compared to the renowned John Wick saga. But what many don’t seem to realize is that this movie that Patel has co-written, directed, and starred in is already a step ahead of Chad Stahelski’s iconic action-thirsty saga with a lot of things that would inevitably further win the hearts of many.
How Dev Patel’s Monkey Man is a Step Ahead of John Wick
Teeth, guns, knives, blood, grit, gory, and stepping up to fight against all those sinister elites and settling the score for every way that they wronged someone else — Chad Stahelski’s action franchise has shown it all. And now, Dev Patel‘s new action film seems to be bringing about the same themes and plotlines as well.
However, even though a lot of thematic aspects between the two are similar, Patel’s recent masterpiece is one step ahead of Keanu Reeves‘ saga. How? Well, there are a lot of things. One, for instance, is that the British actor’s action-thriller is the “anthem for the underdog, the voiceless, the marginalized.”
As he shared with Variety during the SXSW premiere of his directorial debut movie:
“For me, I think this is an anthem for the underdog, the voiceless, the marginalized. […] I just really wanted to include the hijra community, the third gender in India. This is, at its core, a revenge film about faith. And the beauty of faith, you know. Faith — we should be fighting for each other, not against each other — that’s what it should do at its best.”
For the Slumdog Millionaire mastermind, including the trans representation in the film was one of the biggest reasons why he approached it in the first place. As he continued to say:
“For me, it’s become rigid of a time. You look at the old carvings in these temples in India and, like, the freedom, the sexuality — all of it. The philosophy was so ahead of its time. So I wanted to try and dive into that, sort of, and make that, sort of, the lore of the film.”
Thus, in an attempt to incorporate all of the facts and features, Patel ended up making a masterpiece that is Monkey Man. Yet, that isn’t all that separates it from the John Wick saga.
Another Aspect of Monkey Man That Separates it From Other Action Films
During the same interview, the Lion actor also shared another key aspect of his new movie that not only sets it apart from Reeves’ saga but from all the other action movies as well: Its cultural element.
“The action genre has been abused by the system,” Patel said. “You know, a quick buck. Mindless shit. I wanted to give it soul. Real trauma. Real pain. You guys deserve that. I wanted to infuse it with a little bit of culture.”
He also shared a bit more insights into the movie, explaining just who it is based on and how the story unfolds. He said:
“I wanted to take this old mythology and kind of take these characters of who I thought was this hero Hanuman who had lost faith in himself. [He] didn’t realize who he was and needed to be reminded by fellow outsiders of who he was, and together they waged this war, you know, for the good and the just.”
Well, judging from Patel’s representation of it, it seems that his directorial debut film might end up being loved even more than Chad Stahelski‘s super-famous saga. Who knows?!
Monkey Man is out in theatres now!
