Monkey Man

EoinMcLovin

https://youtu.be/CiKgfEIZPDw?si=SB3Vx0ppz4HS4ReE

https://deadline.com/2024/01/monkey-man-dev-patel-jordan-peele-release-1235805732/

Starring Dev Patel in his feature directing debut and produced by Jordan Peele.

Monkey Man originally was set up at Netflix in 2021, but Peele had the opportunity to see the movie immediately was taken by Patel’s vision and felt the film deserved a big-screen release.

JP Liz V1

Indian John Wick, I'm sold plus Sharlto Copley

Mr Crispy

I'm in, you son of a bitch.

expectationlost

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058333389/monkey-man

watch the trailer, had no idea he directed it, don't know why they don't mention that rather then use Peele's name.

pixelburp

Damn, where did Patel get the clout to make that? Looks like a potential banger for sure, and not lacking budget or scope. Some nerve to direct your first - and make it a sweaty action John Wick style film. Maybe Patel got sick of waiting to be Bond and said feck it, I'll do it myself.

That window gag did leave me a bit confused about what time the thing will be aiming for, but the trailer has me sold. Patel being a longstanding man crush probably helps lol.

Agent Coulson

I so want one of those fight scenes turn full Bollywood musical number.

Electric Nitwit

Story by Dev Patel

Screenplay Dev Patel and two more (inc the screenwriter of Hotel Mumbai, which Dev Patel was in)

Directed by Dev Patel

Produced by Dev Patel and others

Fair play to the man, he's made this happen, and that's one hell of a trailer 🙂

JP Liz V1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121682470#Comment_121682470

From Skins to this, fair play

Electric Nitwit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121682480#Comment_121682480

Yeah, he's done great. Although, to be fair, so have a lot of the Skins cast

Not suggesting there'll be any issues, but I wonder how this will go down in India. It doesn't look like it'll paint a very flattering picture, and I wonder if he's seen as being an outsider, being born and bred in London. It kind of brings to mind some of the criticism of Martin McDonagh's portrayal of Ireland. Of course, just a trailer so I may be grabbing the wrong end of the wrong stick!

EoinMcLovin

https://youtu.be/ABKtTA1Kv-4?si=lIm4ioEpP_QUxjHW

super bowl spot

pixelburp

Another trailer for this; hard not to compare it to John Wick but that's no bad thing.. It looks fairly epic and crunchy. Like others I do kinda wonder what Indians will make of this given Patel might be seen as an outsider.

https://youtu.be/aqa3YTtwvaU

expectationlost

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb21atavh74

great interview where he describes how he got it made, he nearly killed himself to get it made. Netflix gave the money but then refused to release it because it criticized Hindu sectarianism, Peele got Universal to take it on.

Spon Farmer

saw this yesterday.

It is very very good. A great action movie. It is far more than an action movie though.

Not as violent as headlines claimed though. Either I’m completely desensitised or others are too sensitive

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122002562#Comment_122002562

Good to hear. It's on at my local. Might see it tomorrow.

Spon Farmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122002968#Comment_122002968

I found pieces of English dialogue by a couple of characters difficult to understand. I think it was because of the accents.

The film has certainly made me want to read up on India.

winstonia

Rubbish. Stick to acting Patel. A poor attempt at yet another revenge flick.

wotausername

Enjoyed this, some good action scenes

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122006333#Comment_122006333

Are you just going to say that every film is rubbish. First Omen and now this one.

What film do you think was actually good.

ancapailldorcha

Quite liked it. It's not a paradigm shift or a game changer. Rather, it's another John Wick clone but they do at least reference it when Bobby is buying a gun. I loved how authentically Indian it is. Made me want to visit and read up on the place.

winstonia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122007666#Comment_122007666

Got a limitless card so watch most. Last two was Dune 2 and boy and the heron. All of us are strangers also amazing. Also enjoying that new Colin Farrell show on Apple.

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008754#Comment_122008754

Ya, I thought All of us were strangers was excellent. Really enjoyed it. Haven't seen any of the Dune movies. I don't know if they are for me. I never got into Star Wars, Star Trek, or any of them fantasy type plots. Dune seems to be something similar.

AMKC

Dev Petell 🤮 . No thanks and what a stupid name for a film. Hope it's a flop.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009035#Comment_122009035

Why?

winstonia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009035#Comment_122009035

Odd

_H80_GHT

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122013941#Comment_122013941

Guys likely the ignore list record holder.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121682470#Comment_121682470

Would have never thought he would come out of Skins as one of the biggest talents. Absolutely certain he would not end up as an action star.

Fysh

Finally caught this last night and was pleasantly surprised by it - it's not a game-changer, but for a first-time director it's a surprisingly confident showing, and the action choreography treads a fine balance between nods to clear influences and favourite films and being enjoyable in its own right. For me at least, it managed to hit that spot of being crunchy and visceral without the camerawork getting so caught up in being "kinetic" that you couldn't follow what was happening. It also managed to land a couple of moments of very adeptly timed and genuinely funny physical humour to help balance the pacing of the action scenes.

Narratively it's a very straightforward affair like many actioners before it, although it does deserve at least some credit for adding some interesting flavour through the setting and context.

Having said that, given how recursively up their own hole the John Wick films have gotten, this felt like it got the balance at least broadly right. If you enjoyed the likes of Ong Bak or The Raid, odds are good you'll find a lot to like here.

dulpit

Saw this last night. It was fine. The action looked great, and the look and feel of the scenes was great too. But the underlying story was a bit meh and generic. It really felt like a bunch of disconnected fight scenes (which were great to be fair) with a rough story around it.

Dev Patel is great though. Such a change from Anwar in Skins..

Man Vs ManUre

Watched this last night. Now I was a bit wrecked and wasn’t able to stay awake during it all, but it seemed to be a bit of a mess. All style over substance, hardly any dialogue, I can’t even remember what it was about so I must have been half asleep for most it, something about his family/village being massacred by a hippy cult leader and his revenge. Wasn’t impressed with it anyway.

speedboatchase

What an odd experience. The first half is terrific. Lots of excellent world-building, hinting at a huge underworld beyond Dev's characters' simple revenge motivations. There's a love interest introduced, a wacky friend, what felt like a souped-up, Batmobile-style vehicle that is uniquely well-suited to escape from the police within the slums. And it's punctuated by what felt like 20 mins of incredible fighting leading into a car chase.

Then it just… slows all the way down and becomes more like a bog standard spiritual, kung-fu revenge story. The characters I mentioned above don't have a single line of dialogue in the second half and everything occurs in a flat, predictable manner with zero peril or stakes. To use a video game analogy, Dev's character returns over-levelled and the experience suffers, with an over-usage of flashbacks over what is happening in a scene. Not sure how Dev managed to throw it all away. He has a great future as an action director but needs to pay attention to the elements that make us care.