Talking about someone’s mama is asking for a fistful of hurt, and in the action thriller “Monkey Man,” Dev Patel goes berserk looking for his mother’s killer. Deco’s Alex Miranda isn’t monkeying around with this report.
They say revenge isn’t the right answer, and that might be the case when Peter, from sales, steals your lunch from out of the break room work fridge. (I know it was you, Peter.)
But when somebody messes with your mom, the newbie director says, “Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!”
Irrfan Khan (as police inspector): “Doctors, lawyers, never get beyond 6,000 rupees. This is 10 million. What can a slumdog possibly know?”
Dev Patel started as a “Slumdog Millionaire,” but now, he’s “Monkey Man.”
Sobhita Dhulipala (as Sita): “You need to fight, for all of us.”
Dev plays a masked fighter on a mission to avenge his mother’s death, and he’s willing to punch through bodies upon bodies to do it.
Dev Patel, actor/director: “I love mixed martial arts, I love the [Ultimate Fighting Championship], I love boxing. I have the huge respect for those guys, these sportsmen that put their body on the line. I hope those guys watch this film, and they tip their hat to it and go, ‘Yeah, he’s trying to represent us here in a cool way.'”
And represent he does. Not only is he the star, but it’s also his debut as director.
Dev Patel: “I poured all of myself into this.”
He really did. Dev broke his hand, two toes and tore his shoulder.
Dev Patel: “Don’t try and jump through a double-glazed window, ’cause you’ll bounce off it.”
This action-packed film has its funny moments.
Pitobash (as Alphonso): “I call her Nicki … Minaj. Big bumper, nice headlights.”
But the nonstop fight scenes all around India were mesmerizing to the actor.
Dev Patel: “Yeah, it’s sort of precise chaos, isn’t it? You know, that’s what I wanted to try and do. It’s like trying and find the claustrophobia and the manic-ness of what real violence will feel like, you know, the concussive nature of it all.”
Catch “Monkey Man” in theaters starting this Thursday.
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