One of the things that I often complain about when discussing movies is how few movies there are that aren't just reboots, remakes, or pointless sequels to existing properties. So I must begin by expressing my gratitude to this film for not only being its own thing, but also by representing an entire culture that is rarely in Western movies; I know, Bollywood exists, and it is very popular in India, but while it is picking up a little steam over here it is still far outside the mainstream (and I'm not very personally familiar with it, either). So to me, and probably many other ignorant Western viewers like me, it is nice.

Now that I've said that, the first thing I'm going to do is immediately compare it to a bunch of existing properties. The comparison it wants to make in the marketing is obviously John Wick; it even references the film IN the film, by name. And on a certain level you can see why, because it has a lot of the same gratuitous violence, stylized action, and to some degree general tone. It is worse than John Wick at these things, but most movies are. This movie makes up for it by actually having something to say, though, which those movies really don't (nor do they need to). I'll get back to that in a bit, but the point I am coming to is that ultimately I actually don't think that's the template it is using. It has a dash of it, like it has a dash of The Raid with its narrow corridors and some of its action choreography. But the movie to me is truly at its heart a combination of two things: the Korean Revenge Film (distinct from the American Revenge Film mostly in its overwhelming negativity and air of ... sadness isn't quite the right word, but I'm not sure what is) and the Tony Jaa Film.

Korean Revenge films are usually about a profoundly unhappy character, and Dev smiles about half of one time in the film. They almost always result in the main character dying a miserable death at the end as part of their revenge. There is a certain oppression to their nature, that makes them something that one might "enjoy" watching but which one can never actually ENJOY watching. It's not wasted in this movie, though, as the heavy social commentary elements tie in with that same sense of oppression, and make it really matter - it doesn't want the oppression, it just must live under it, because that is the world in which it exists. I won't pretend to know a lot about Indian politics, but it is no accident that the politician looks pretty much like Modi, and his party is ultra-nationalist and repressive. Many of the themes are ones which extend across a lot of modern society, where there is no shortage of political corruption, police corruption, and the militarization of religion to both gain and wield power against minorities or anyone else. I think it is effective, even if it isn't "fun" in the same way as a movie like John Wick, where his enemies are Bad but totally detached from reality and are just movie characters (is this where I get my Monkey Man is just John Woke joke in?).

The other half is the half that is a bit more fun, even if it doesn't make the movie as a whole "fun," and that's the Tony Jaa half. It's very typical of his movies; the outsider from the rural, traditional region is in the big city, where no one respects the sacred cultural heritage with which he grew up. He's in an underground fighting ring, where he's "forced" to fight, and even gets his Tony Jaa single-kick-elimination moment that feels straight out of those films. The sacred elephant is now the sacred monkey, and the clean water, and the respect that has been lost to the dens of iniquity in which he's forced to wade to do the job he's here to do. The only solution? Muay Thai Monkey fists. Undergoing the spiritual journey and "death" and rebirth into enlightenment is a significant part of those films that carries over here, and it just feels far too similar to be an accident. Combine all this with, for instance, the final battle in which the dangling mirrors are a clear aesthetic homage to Enter the Dragon, and I just feel like he is a guy who is speaking my language, an artist who is fluent in the literacy of the Action Movie. All of it is right up my alley. The movie might not be for everyone, but is definitely for me.

On the other hand, if I have a complaint about the movie, it is the camera and editing choices. It is highly cut-up, tons of quick cuts and jumps, and a lot of frantic camera movement. It even uses the rarely-used "first person as the main character" perspective from time to time. It does achieve a certain freneticism and pace with it, but it also obscures a lot of the action, and makes it a bit physically tiring to watch. It could do with some longer shots, but more important fewer shots that feel inches away from the camera. I haven't read about the film yet, but I have a suspicion that some of it is an intentional choice, used to convey the claustrophobia of the massively overpopulated crowding and squalor of the urban centers of India. But it does not leave much room to breathe. Again, I think it is partially by design to leave it more rough-around-the-edges than a slick fantasy movie like John Wick, and place it in a society that is itself rough-around-the-edges, but I think it could have done it without quite so much close-up shaking to hide so much of the action.

All in all, it has a lot of elements I appreciate, and it's nice to have a Cool Action Movie that even does some of the simple things it does: acknowledge that poverty is real, and that corruption and nationalist fervor impact actual people, and that sometimes, in the end, violence is the answer to an unjust system. There's probably still a lot of cultural context I'm missing to hear everything it's trying to say, but that's a problem with me, not the movie.

Score: 8/10

IMDb: Monkey Man

PS: Trans rights are human rights.

PPS: ACAB

PPPS: Truly wild that Netflix sat on this film's rights and wouldn't release it because they were scared of the politics. Thank you Jordan Peele for making it happen in the end.