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This review was originally published on April 5, 2024.Monkey Manis now available to stream on Peacock.
One day, Dev Patel will surely direct a great movie.
None of these other things would matter, of course, if they didnt matter to the movie itself.
But the protagonist this time isnt a legendarily cold-blooded assassin.
Patel seems eager to elevate his genre potboiler into the realm of deeper meaning and spiritual gravitas.
A supremely talented leading man, hes one of those performers who mixes great range with great presence.
But we so rarely glimpse Patels face at rest in this hectic, stylized film.
And no, the overload of spiritual imagery doesnt quite cover for it.
Action movies do this all the time, to be fair.
At their best, their films build symphonies of mayhem out of those single notes.
ButMonkey Manclearly aspires to something more, something transcendent and meaningful.
Somebody should remind Dev Patel the director that Dev Patel the actor can do a lot more than this.
