Monkey Man is fun: great action, ok writing, shallow politics. Does next to nothing with supporting characters Alphonso and Sita. Why water down the Modi satire so much if it’s going to get banned in India anyway.
Tries to reclaim Hanuman from the Bajrangis, back to fighting for the oppressed. But it’s mainly about one guy’s trauma: Oldboy with a young boy.
Dev Patel returns to the setting of Slumdog and Danny Boyle’s propulsiveness, with a scene of slum kids relaying a stolen purse.
Patel’s final kill run is Matrix-like, god mode, powerful and effortless. Hanuman was once cursed to forget his powers, Patel finally remembers them.
Like a monkey, Patel’s character is a biter. One kill leaves a brothel owner disfigured like Surpanakha. Another is a knife away from a puma kill.
The needle drops are clunky and too on-the-nose: “Roxanne” for an escort, Jefferson Airplane for a drug scene.
Funny that British Patel’s fighting a villain with lion and crown logos, called “Sovereign” Party, with a lieutenant named Rana Singh (king lion).
Fictional Yatana’s police jeeps look like Bombay’s, while the name sounds like Haryana.
Sikander Kher is a magnificent bastard cop, looks like a brute. 6’2” like Dev Patel, but much beefier.
Makarand Deshpande plays the stock evil godman, shades of Sacred Games. Wonder how it feels for a veteran Bombay actor to work for a British kid with the shallowest gloss on Hindu myths and Indian politics :)