“Monkey Man is one of the best action movies of our time.”
Dev Patel’s new film Monkey Man has bagged an impressive 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes following its premiere at SXSW on Monday night (11th March).
The action movie follows a downtrodden young man (played by Patel) who works in an underground fight club and decides to seek revenge against the corrupt leaders responsible for the death of his mother.
The cast is rounded out by Sobhita Dhulipala, Pitobash, Vipin Sharma, Sikandar Kher and Sharlto Copley, while Jordan Peele is producing under the Monkeypaw banner.
First reactions to Monkey Man have been overwhelmingly positive, with some critics comparing the film to the action-heavy John Wick franchise.
Monkey Man: Dev Patel’s got rocket fuel in his veins as an action director and an action star. One of the most assured, kinetic debuts I’ve seen: gorgeous, crunchy, and relentless. What a blast. #SXSW2024 pic.twitter.com/m6gBpnRL1i
— Jeff Zhang 张佶润 (@strangeharbors) March 12, 2024
Jeff Zhang said the film was a “blast”, writing on Twitter, which was recently rebranded as X: “Monkey Man: Dev Patel’s got rocket fuel in his veins as an action director and an action star. One of the most assured, kinetic debuts I’ve seen: gorgeous, crunchy, and relentless. What a blast.”
Scott Menzel, meanwhile, said “it’s like John Wick but on Steroids”, adding “an insanely violent revenge film. Dev Patel directs the hell out of this thing and there are some seriously insane sequences that make you go how did they do that?”
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Frederick Nuti wrote: “Monkey Man directed by Dev Patel is one of the best action movies of our time. His directorial debut and he absolutely executes it masterfully. Visceral and action packed with a new style unseen before! People are gonna absolutely love this! Talented as hell!”
Josh Hurtado also had positive things to say about the film, writing: “Monkey Man is brutally violent, against the villains, but also against the hypocrisy of religion, the tyranny of caste, and the oppression of a corrupt government. Dev Patel nailed it, bloody as hell and intense as f**k.”
Monkey Man directed by Dev Patel is one of the best action movies of our time. His directorial debut and he absolutely executes it masterfully. Visceral and action packed with a new style unseen before! People are gonna absolutely love this! Talented as hell! #SXSW #MonkeyMan pic.twitter.com/TBe631rtWc
— Frederick Nuti @ SXSW (@FrederickNuti) March 12, 2024
Monkey Man is set to land in cinemas on Friday 5th April 2024. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on.
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