Dev Patel and Jordan Peele's New Film Channels A Bollywood Icon
Comparisons to Keanu Reeves and the John Wick films are superficial, at best.
Is that you, Vijay?
Photographer: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
I can’t remember the last time that the trailer of a movie — one that doesn’t involve dinosaurs, Marvel heroes, or events in a galaxy far, far away — attracted as much attention and comment as Monkey Man, the forthcoming Dev Patel vehicle. The film was originally planned for streaming on Netflix but, according to the Hollywood Reporter, producer Jordan Peele was so impressed by a screening that he decided it deserved a wide theatrical release. Universal Pictures quickly agreed to market and distribute it. It will be in US theaters on April 5.
Watch the trailer and you can see why Peele was so taken by the film: Patel, who also directed and co-wrote the script, plays an anonymous young man who seeks to “protect the weak” and avenge his mother’s murder by corrupt and powerful figures. The title is derived from his side hustle in an underground Mumbai fight club, where he dons a monkey mask in the ring.