The first I heard of Monkey Man was when I saw its first trailer, which immediately intrigued me.
It appeared to be going for a John Wick movie set in India storyline but, when I finally saw the movie a few days ago, it defined itself as something more than that.
Directed by Dev Patel in his directorial debut, and produced by Jordan Peele, this movie was clearly a passion project for Patel, who stars in the unnamed role of a man out for revenge against the corrupt Indian officials and religious leaders who killed his mother. 

Patel is excellent in the lead role, portraying the trauma and rage of his character flawlessly.
This extends to the action scenes, all of which are great.
There are a few bits of too much shaky-cam here and there but, otherwise, they are all thrilling, brutal, and occasionally with a bit of humor thrown in.
These action scenes are less abundant than the trailers would have you believe, although this is not a bad thing. 

When the film is not focusing on the action, it is instead building the themes through the trauma of its lead character, and also going into different parts of Indian culture.
For example, the hijra community gets an unexpected focus in this movie, which was the first time I had heard about the culture in India.
Along with this, Patel provides biting criticism of the Indian government and religious leaders with his depiction of the antagonists, Rana Singh (Sikandar Kher) and Baba Shakti (Makarand Deshpande).

With the main characterization, action and themes all coming together, probably my only significant issue with Monkey Man is some of the characters.
A couple of them do kind of feel forgotten about towards the end of the film.
Along with this, a minor issue I have is the main character’s transformation into the Monkey Man in the final act.
There is this big symbolic change with the mask he wears, only for him to immediately abandon wearing it afterwards, making the change feel kind of pointless.

Those issues aside, Monkey Man is a strong directorial debut for Dev Patel.
It delivers great action, a relatable main character, and sheds a light on many issues and groups in India which I was unaware of.
I am interested to see if Patel will continue his directorial career alongside his acting in the future.