Monkey Man is worth watching if you want a brutal action film with a personal point of view: Dev Patel’s forceful performance and the movie’s physical, bloody fights are more convincing than its crowded mix of myth, politics and trauma. Patel directs, co-writes and stars in this 2024 feature debut, which uses a revenge story to reach beyond the genre’s usual payback.
What is Monkey Man about?
Kid, a nameless underground fighter who earns money in a gorilla mask, finds a way into the city’s corrupt elite and sets out to avenge what was done to him and his mother. Universal Pictures describes the film as an action thriller; its straightforward revenge engine gives the more symbolic and political material a clear route into the story. Universal Pictures’ film page lists Patel as director and star.
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Monkey Man - Collector's Edition 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital | $24.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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Monkey Man - Collector's Edition Blu-ray + DVD + Digital | $13.79 | Buy on Amazon |
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![Monkey Man [Blu-ray] [2024] [Region Free]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/419WSgleC8L._SL160_.jpg)
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Monkey Man [Blu-ray] [2024] [Region Free] | $16.00 | Buy on Amazon |
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![Monkey Man [Blu-ray]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41P-JQFG37L._SL160_.jpg)
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Monkey Man [Blu-ray] | $38.98 | Buy on Amazon |
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Monkey Man | Dev Patel | Region Free | $23.10 | Buy on Amazon |
What makes the film distinctive?
A revenge story shaped by myth
Patel has described his original pitch as “a revenge film about faith.” In an Associated Press interview published April 4, 2024, he said the Hindu legend of Hanuman inspired the film. The AP describes Hanuman through qualities including strength, loyalty and courage, and reports Patel saw a connection between Hindu mythology and superhero iconography. That influence gives Kid’s struggle a fable-like dimension without making the film simply a myth retelling.
Action with political intent
Patel also wanted to blend action with commentary on India’s caste system, according to the AP interview. The AP review reads the fictional setting as political allegory. The film’s focus is specific to its own invented story and characters; it should not be taken as a portrait of all Indian experience or belief.
#1 Best Overall
How well do the action and ideas work?
The action is the film’s most assured language. Jake Coyle’s Associated Press review calls it a bloody, furious showcase for Patel, praising the explosive opening and kinetic martial-arts choreography. Coyle particularly values sequences that honor martial-arts cinema traditions, while also noting incongruities in the way the film joins its ideas. He awarded it three stars out of four.
Stephanie Zacharek’s TIME review offers the sharpest counterweight to the action’s impact. She sees the film trying to be political allegory, trauma study, inspirational fable and brutal entertainment, and finds that its ambitions collide: some aims land only part of the time. Racism, religious intolerance, class inequality and a hijra community are among the subjects and characters she identifies.
That tension defines the experience. Patel brings conviction to Kid’s physical struggle, and the fights make the revenge plot immediate; the symbolic and political threads do not always feel as tightly integrated. Monkey Man is an unusually personal, ferocious debut, but its action carries more consistent force than its full thematic construction.
Is Monkey Man like John Wick?
There is a surface comparison: both films put a driven avenger through stylized close-quarters violence. The Associated Press notes that Monkey Man itself namechecks John Wick, but treating Patel’s film as merely an Indian version of that franchise misses its Hanuman-inspired fable framework and political aims. The comparison helps describe the revenge-action appeal, not the whole film.
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Rank #3
- Monkey Man
How violent is Monkey Man, and how long is it?
It is a notably bloody action film. Universal’s U.S. home-entertainment listing gives it an R rating for “strong bloody violence throughout, rape, language throughout, sexual content/nudity and drug use.” The BBFC UK cinema listing classifies it for strong bloody violence and highlights shootings, stabbings, fistfights, improvised weapons with bloody detail, extended chases and prolonged gun threat. It also flags flashing images that may affect viewers susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy. These are country-specific classification systems, not interchangeable ratings.
Runtime varies slightly by listing: Universal gives 2hr 2min, the AP review says 121 minutes, and the BBFC lists 121m 29s for its UK cinema version. In general, allow about 121–122 minutes.
Rank #4
Where can you watch or own it?
Universal’s current home-entertainment page lists Digital, a Collector’s Edition 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital, and a Collector’s Edition Blu-ray + DVD + Digital. Its June 3, 2024 release announcement recorded the original dates: Digital ownership began June 11, followed by 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD on June 25, 2024. The announcement also gave June 14, 2024 as the Peacock streaming debut; that historical date does not establish current streaming availability, which varies by territory and time.
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