Jakarta. British actor Dev Patel has made his directorial debut with the action revenge thriller film “Monkey Man”, which is now officially playing in Indonesian cinemas.

The two-hour long movie follows the story of Kid (Patel), a monkey-masked and Hanuman-inspired fighter who is out seeking to avenge the death of his mother Neela (Adithi Kalkunte). His targets? The ruthless spiritual guru Baba Shakti (Makarand Deshpande) and the corrupt police chief Rana Singh (Sikandar Kher). 

The India-set “Monkey Man” tries to portray tough subject matters starting from abuse of religious power, social gaps, sexual exploitation, among others. The story mainly takes place in the underground fight club where we see Monkey Man in action and the brothel for Kid to carry out his revenge plans. If I were to sum up Patel’s work, I would say: “the now-filmmaker has executed ‘Monkey Man’ in style”. And this is mainly because of the great martial arts sequences and playlist. 

Aside from the great choreography, the fight scenes seem realistic. While Kid is strong, we don’t see Monkey Man trying to defeat 100 opponents single-handedly. “Monkey Man” also has the right amount of combat -- although some scenes can be too brutal for the audience. But my personal favorite fight scene is when an army of Hijras --India’s third gender community-- step into the battlefield to come to Kid’s aid, all dressed in sparkly warrior costumes. 

We also have the playlist which mainly comprise fast-paced, adrenaline-pumping songs. “Monkey Man” did great picking “Red Sex” by Vessel for the opening scene at the underground fight club. We also have “151 Rum” by JID playing as Kid’s accomplices steal a purse belonging to the brothel manager Queenie Kapoor (Ashwini Kalsekar). Jed Kurzel’s original soundtracks also really build the atmosphere as Kid embarks on a journey of revenge. 

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