An absolutely brutal film is out today – and we can’t wait to finish here and go watch it.
Replicating the style of John Wick is incredibly hard – with endless attempts being made in the years since it came out.
So far every attempt has fallen short in both the frenetic and crazy action scenes, as well as the genuine heart at the core of John Wick.
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In this film out today, however, both of these things are achieved.
The film is Monkey Man, starring Dev Patel as a poor underground fighter who discovers a way to take revenge against people who wronged him as a child.
Patel also directs the film – with it being his first ever time behind the camera.
The insane movie is garnering an amazing reaction, with 87% on Rotten Tomatoes.
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DiscussingFilm gave the movie 4.5/5 stars, saying: “Monkey Man is the kind of movie every aspiring action filmmaker has in their head, meant to be rewatched endlessly with new intricate details revealing themselves upon each screening.
“It’s a near-perfect piece of work that announces writer-director Dev Patel as an incredible force to be reckoned with behind the camera.
“But unlike some of those other 'John Wick knockoffs', Monkey Man boasts a unique identity and bold originality to its epicness that cannot be compared to any other revenge thriller.”
Empire were similarly effusive in their praise of the film, saying: “Stylish, high-energy, smart and eye-wateringly violent.
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“Monkey Man goes bananas in the best possible way.”
The movie is also a massive hit with fans, as many of them are coming out the cinema today and going straight to social media to rave about Monkey Man.
One fan on X (formerly known as Twitter) said:
“YOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! I just got out of #MonkeyMan and holy s**t!!!! Dev Patel, the man that you are! The actor that you are! The director that you are! This is your directorial debut?!?! What!!?! Huh?!?! And this was just going to do straight to Netflix? Absolutely not!”
They followed up by saying: “Thank you for saving this Jordan and making it go straight to theatre!”
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Monkey Man was originally set to release directly onto Netflix before Jordan Peele intervened, convincing Universal pictures to acquire the film from Netflix.
Whilst we all love the ease of films dropping on Netflix, it’s a great thing Peele did, because Monkey Man is meant to be seen on as big a screen as is possible.
Topics: TV and Film
Michael Slavin