Dev Patel’s director debut “Monkey Man” (2024) is a lot of things. Apart from being a bone-crunching, blood-curdling action thriller, what’s commendable is that it exists in spite of the journey it has had. The actor-turned-filmmaker, who offered the film to his close friend and director Neill Blomkamp only to be advised to do it himself, literally broke his own leg while making it. In addition to that, the film suffered at the hands of Netflix, who were initially up on the project only to cowardly step back. Universal and Jordan Peele eventually rescued it, and now we have the film in all its glory.
Now, the question that most of you would be wondering is: Is “Monkey Man” (2024) any good? Well, if you are an action buff, particularly Kung Fu movies, then you’d have a great time. Patel has choreographed his action with incredible intensity, not slowing the gore down for people who can’t stomach it. While it can be deemed a Mumbai-set John Wick, the action owes more to the Martial Arts cinema of Asia than anything else.
However, does the film really stay with you? No, Not really. One of the main reasons is the film’s wonky politics, which feel pretty surface-level and, if I am being honest, with a tad bit of an outsider’s gaze. So, in spite of all of Patel’s efforts to incorporate corruption, poverty, and the marginalization of those less fortunate, the revenge arc is the only thing that matters.
In the following article, I will take a look at the various turns that “Monkey Man” (2024) takes and what that wild ending means. Please be aware the article will be full of spoilers:
Monkey Man (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
The film, in typical action-movie fashion, saves up the cause of anger for intermediate flashbacks. However, any viewer who checks into the movie is always aware of what happened in the protagonist’s past. Named ‘Kid’ in the credit and played by Patel himself, “Monkey Man” opens with snippets of the past as the Kid’s mother, Neela (Adithi Kalkunte), teaches him the stories of Hanuman – a deity in Hindu mythology who symbolizes perseverance, strength, and devotion.
Fast forward to the present day, the Kid is a part of an underground boxing club. Run by Tiger (Sharlto Copley), the Kid comes to the ring decked in a monkey mask and loses every night for money. His real aim is to earn more money so he can find intel on Kings, a luxury brothel right in the center of Mumbai run by the infamous Queenie Kapoor (Ashwini Kalsekar). The Kid sets up a meeting with Queenie by making his slum friends snatch her purse and then later asks her to offer him a job for his honesty. While Queenie isn’t really interested at first, his forthright attitude makes her reconsider.
Why does the Kid join Kings?
For the next few months, the Kid works really hard as a cleaner who also does some errands on the side. He uses the alias Bobby during this time at Kings. He meets Alphonso (Pitobash) – a close associate of Queenie but someone who comes from the gutters like him and Sita (Shobhita Dhulipala), a young girl forced into labor and serving the brothel’s elite clientele.
One of these days, Kid cozies up with Alphonso and helps him win some cash at one of his underground fights by letting him know about the result. They become fast friends, and Alphonso invites him to come serve with him in the VIP area of the establishment.
Why does the Kid want to Kill Rana?
The VIP area is reserved for those who are rich and powerful. One of the clients at the lounge is Rana (Sikandar Kher), a ruthless policeman who we have been seeing in most of Kid’s haunting memories. We soon learn that Rana was the person who attacked Kids’s peaceful village and burnt everything to the ground, including Kid’s mother, Neela, who refused to let them take over.
Fueled with revenge, Kid prepares himself some more to exact it. He befriends a local street dog, buys a gun from a local vendor, and readies himself for the day when Alphonso takes him upstairs to serve Rana. Kid uses the dog to smuggle a gun into the club in spite of tight security through the staff entrance, and then replaces Rana’s cocaine with bleach.
When Rana goes into the washroom, Kid attacks him. An intense fight ensues, and Kid eventually loses sight of his gun and gets surrounded by Rana’s thugs. He tries his best to flee, first in Alphonso’s vehicle, then through a local brothel, but is eventually spotted by a chopper and shot as he tries to run over the Dharawi slump roofs. Wounded, he falls into the polluted river that runs along.
Who is Alpha?
The kid is reduced by Alpha and his fellow transgender pals who live in the shrine of a local temple that prays to the Ardhanarishvara deity. The half-male, half-female deity is a representation of the forces of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati, but the community that is headed by Alpha is marginalized just because they don’t look and feel like the normal definition of a man and a woman. Alpha suggests that Kid, who has still not exacted his revenge, stay with them for a while. With nothing much to do, a heavily wounded Kid stays with the community and first recovers from his injuries and later trains himself to fight for himself again.
One of those days, Alpha offers some hallucinogenic substance to help him look for what he wants. This allows him to really expand on the reason for his donning the Monkey Mask and revitalizes him with the vigor to fight against Rana. This eventually leads to the bigger devil in question, Baba Shakti.
Who is Baba Shakti?
We get a glimpse of Baba Shakti throughout the film, but much like every other Guru, he feels harmless. Until, of course, you learn what their faith-based propaganda is all about. In another one of the flashbacks, we learn that Baba Shakti has been trying his best to expand his cult – a hyper-religious group of people (a reference to present Hindu radicalized India) who are taking over the country. His aim is to expand his commune by obliterating the marginalized – targeting Muslims and other smaller communities and taking over their place by posing that it always belonged to them.
The kid’s peaceful community that used to live in the forest was forced to leave because, apparently, Baba Shakti ordered Rana to do it. He wanted a commune under his name to be built there, so he chose violence (something he claims to be against) to get what he wanted.
Why does Kid go back to Tiger’s for one last fight?
Before leaving after being completely healed, Kid finds one of Alpha’s associates being brutally beaten because they opposed the notice that was fixed on their temple’s doorstep. The notice ordered the entire transgender community to vacate the premises because Baba Shakti’s disciples would like to take over the temple for their own prayers, where the community would not be welcome.
These marginalized people did not have enough money to feed the corrupted middlemen. So, Kid decides to take the little money in the donation box, go to Tiger’s fight club, and ask one of his associates to bet on himself. After knocking out King Cobra, he fights the reigning champion, Bhalu – the Bear, and takes away the money. The fight gives Monkey Man a rebirth as he leaves the money for Alpha and his new friends.
Monkey Man (2024) Movie Ending, Explained:
Is Kid able to exact revenge?
Meanwhile, it becomes apparent that Baba Shakti, the most powerful person in the country right now, is also funding the Sovereign Party, which wins the election. On Diwali, as the nation celebrates the festival of lights, all the corrupted, evil souls round up at Kings for their success. Among them are Rana and Baba Shakti.
The kid gets to know about the situation and, in spite of the high security, infiltrates through with whatever weapon he can find or makeshift. He fights Rana in the room where the speech is going on, but both Rana and Baba Shakti escape soon after. He tries to fight through the raging number of thugs in the building but he is surrounded completely. When more men show up after he kills a bunch, he feels a little helpless, but soon, Alpha and his warriors show up to fight alongside him.
They try their best to kill them off, but Queenie, who is pissed at Kid for turning her establishment into a dumpster fire, shows up with a gun and starts killing them off. However, Sita, who has been taking all of her suppressive tendencies till now, takes a silver tray and kills her off, essentially freeing herself and becoming a Koel (an Indian bird that is shown on one of her tattoos and revered as a higher power in Hindu texts).
Kid snatches the tray away from her and uses it to cut off Queenie’s thumb, which gets him access to the VIP lounge. There, he finds Rana and eventually punches him to death. He does leave the Sovereign Party leader alive, mostly because he knows that he is a mere puppet to the puppeteer – Baba Shakti.
Does the kid die?
He then gets into the lift and goes up to the Kings Lounge. There, he finds Baba Shakti, who tries to give him a dose of non-violence teachings but eventually uses the blades hidden in his Paduka (an ancient form of footwear that Sadhus and non-violence projectionists use) and fatally wounds Kid. However, Kid overpowers him by using the same blade and stabbing him to his very death.
The ending of “Monkey Man” (2024) finds the Kid reminiscing about his mother’s sweet memories and their devotion to Lord Hanuman. Having exacted his revenge and killed the lot that led him here, Kid stumbles from the wounds inflicted on him, and the movie fades to black.
Did Kid die? I suppose he does. Since Baba Shakti stabbed him right in his heart, we can assume that he would eventually succumb to those wounds and die. However, resurrection is often a part of Indian mythology, and if Patel feels that there’s more to the story than what he has carved, we might see “Monkey Man” resurrected once again.
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