Stop feeding that dog. Its gonna keep coming back expecting more. It just gives her hope.
Far from a simple debut for Dev Patel, this movie will be on my memory for a long time. This is a breath of fresh air over the so beaten up action movie genre. Here you will not find a bulked bulky manly male, capable of fighting an army without a single scratch. Instead, you will find a sensitive, hurt, sad man, who can see the grand scheme of things, but fails to understand his own role in the whole mess, so he simply STFU and moves on with the roles that life will present to him, while dreaming of some day achieving his goals (much like every ordinary man nowadays, if you ask me: hurt, lost, unable to deal with his feelings, raging war against shadows because of that).
It is impossible not to see some influences, especially John Wick as many have pointed out. But it stops at that: influence (mostly in regards of the fighting scenes and some visuals) and that is it. Although the movie may seem "formulaic" at first, give it a second thought, pay closer attention to the details and the background. The story being told here is much deeper than a simple "revenge movie" as it may seem on the surface.
The opening quotation above is one of the most interesting scenes I have seen here. So much is told with so little, there is a lot of subtext in such a small, simple scene. Up to this scene, it is almost impossible to say if Monkey Man was looking at the woman or his nemesis, romanticaly interested or studying his next move. The second time the Monkey Man goes into the penthouse and sees the same woman with the policeman, a very known music starts playing in the background: Roxanne by, not ironically, The Police. Although the song depicts a man who falls in love with a prostitute and wants to "save" her from this life, later we see that the Monkey Man has a much greater goal than just simply "save the girl" or "avenge his mother".
When he gets to the temple, he meets Alpha, his savior (who, pay attention, is "male and female; neither and both" - "Alpha", commonly associated with the most masculine attributes in the '4chan redpill groups', here is a transgender woman). Alpha then leads the Monkey to "remember who you are". Later, the Monkey returns her the favor after giving them the money to save the temple (a note reading "Time to remember who YOU are"). This is what will lead to the hijras in assisting the Monkey at the end: "We [the hijras] were warriors before they drove us here", told him Alpha, and after remembering that, the hijras took arms and helped him with his plot. When the prostitute also comes to his aid, he barely looks into her eyes, not because he doesn't feel anything, but because he cannot stop a bigger plan because of a romantic interest. Also, when confronting Shakti, the Monkey only asks two questions: "Do you even know my mother's name? Do you know any of their names?". It may all have started because of his mother, but his goals were political, rather than simple revenge.
Yes, the movie is filled with political analysis and criticism, and heavy doses of social commentary, all boiled up the ultimate level: the personal level. And that is the point of the movie. Politics IS personal. Society IS personal. Both affect our lives from macro to micro cosmos, so the macro should also be affected by the micro cosmos, even if a single man needs to start a revolution. But above all, the movie is a kick in already hurt manhoods out there: the silent type is not strong alone, and can only achieve his goals with the aid of women, be them cis or trans. Deal with that, macho.
All your life you have been fighting to feel pain. You need to fight for a purpose. Fight... for all of us.
Review by ttofanoBlockedParent2024-05-08T21:36:55Z
Far from a simple debut for Dev Patel, this movie will be on my memory for a long time. This is a breath of fresh air over the so beaten up action movie genre. Here you will not find a bulked bulky manly male, capable of fighting an army without a single scratch. Instead, you will find a sensitive, hurt, sad man, who can see the grand scheme of things, but fails to understand his own role in the whole mess, so he simply STFU and moves on with the roles that life will present to him, while dreaming of some day achieving his goals (much like every ordinary man nowadays, if you ask me: hurt, lost, unable to deal with his feelings, raging war against shadows because of that).
It is impossible not to see some influences, especially John Wick as many have pointed out. But it stops at that: influence (mostly in regards of the fighting scenes and some visuals) and that is it. Although the movie may seem "formulaic" at first, give it a second thought, pay closer attention to the details and the background. The story being told here is much deeper than a simple "revenge movie" as it may seem on the surface.
The opening quotation above is one of the most interesting scenes I have seen here. So much is told with so little, there is a lot of subtext in such a small, simple scene. Up to this scene, it is almost impossible to say if Monkey Man was looking at the woman or his nemesis, romanticaly interested or studying his next move. The second time the Monkey Man goes into the penthouse and sees the same woman with the policeman, a very known music starts playing in the background: Roxanne by, not ironically, The Police. Although the song depicts a man who falls in love with a prostitute and wants to "save" her from this life, later we see that the Monkey Man has a much greater goal than just simply "save the girl" or "avenge his mother".
When he gets to the temple, he meets Alpha, his savior (who, pay attention, is "male and female; neither and both" - "Alpha", commonly associated with the most masculine attributes in the '4chan redpill groups', here is a transgender woman). Alpha then leads the Monkey to "remember who you are". Later, the Monkey returns her the favor after giving them the money to save the temple (a note reading "Time to remember who YOU are"). This is what will lead to the hijras in assisting the Monkey at the end: "We [the hijras] were warriors before they drove us here", told him Alpha, and after remembering that, the hijras took arms and helped him with his plot. When the prostitute also comes to his aid, he barely looks into her eyes, not because he doesn't feel anything, but because he cannot stop a bigger plan because of a romantic interest. Also, when confronting Shakti, the Monkey only asks two questions: "Do you even know my mother's name? Do you know any of their names?". It may all have started because of his mother, but his goals were political, rather than simple revenge.
Yes, the movie is filled with political analysis and criticism, and heavy doses of social commentary, all boiled up the ultimate level: the personal level. And that is the point of the movie. Politics IS personal. Society IS personal. Both affect our lives from macro to micro cosmos, so the macro should also be affected by the micro cosmos, even if a single man needs to start a revolution. But above all, the movie is a kick in already hurt manhoods out there: the silent type is not strong alone, and can only achieve his goals with the aid of women, be them cis or trans. Deal with that, macho.