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[Dev Patel] announces himself as a filmmaker with possibly the most ferocious mainstream action movie since The Raid... Monkey Man is a gory hero’s journey embroidered with mythical folk traditions and laced with a stark commentary on India’s corrupt cops and seedy super-rich.

[Monkey Man] feels fresh. More to the point, it feels fun. There’s a sense of glee to the newly minted iconography... And while the combat is a while coming — Kid spends the first act suppressing swells of emotion — when it arrives it’s giddy and creative, with a streak of mad mischief.

One imagines that the long production led to some production constraints, which may be why there are some moments where some effects and CGI are a bit rougher than one would like. But even still, the action and the cast always pulls you back. Given that this is Patel’s first time behind the camera, it is all impressively confident, even in the moment where you can see the seams.

Patel gives us blood, guts, and a huge amount of fight choreography, all in the service of a tale that also serves as a condemnation of ethno-religious fascism. Imagine John Wick battling societal corruption in India at its root and you’ll have an idea of what to expect.

“Monkey Man” is Patel’s feature directorial debut, and he goes just as hard stylistically as he does on screen... It’s a free-for-all of headrush filmmaking, and Patel packs the frame with people and movement in crowd scenes that evoke the teeming excitement of urban India. Its lack of grounding wide shots makes the film feel unmoored at times, which inhibits emotional engagement. But the badass factor here is strong.

Patel, a self-professed action film devotee, has a gift for highly kinetic, brutally violent fight sequences... Monkey Man offers some cinematic treats... [and Patel] imbues the action with an immersive and vertiginous, if at time wearisome, momentum. His visual style is an at times discombobulating mix of TV soap, gritty character drama and slick Hollywood action.

Dev Patel pours his entire self into “Monkey Man.” Some comes over the sides and the mix might not always be right but there’s an undeniable passion here that comes through in a genre that too often feels like it came off an assembly line... When it falters, those missteps can be forgiven as byproducts of the filmmaker’s unbridled desire to stand out from the other action movie primates.

[Monkey Man] bursts with the same frenetic energy of a Danny Boyle or John Woo picture, with Patel... throwing everything he has at the screen, and then some... Like John Krasinski, [the director] has jumped from likable rising star to capable director in a film so visually rich and innovative that its premiere at SXSW scored a rare standing ovation for the festival.

In Patel’s hands as both star and director, Monkey Man becomes a new action classic just waiting for its audience, who will not be able to get enough of Kid and his relentless nature. It’s a muscular, emotional, ferocious triumph of a movie, and when it’s over, you’ll want to go right back in and watch it all over again.

[While Monkey Man] often feels very much like a rough, earnest fan film dialing those influences up to 11, it also suggests that if Patel’s technique behind the camera catches up to his passion for the genre, he’ll be a force to be reckoned with.

With Monkey Man, Patel offers an allegorical story that combines the technical and heroic sensibilities of his favorite action figures (Bruce Lee, John Wick) with the mythologies rooted in his ethnic identity... [Yet the film's] attempt to connect mythology, politics and the personal results in a movie that only does each element, at best, half-justice.

Action sequences are messy, but visceral, showreeling not only Patel’s skillset as a director to watch, but an action star in the making... The film’s only flaw – the kinetic energy stops the moment the fighting does... But when the action ramps back up again, the movie roars back to life.