Monkey Man (2024) review

Cash-stripped prize fighter Kid (Patel), who witnessed his mother get murdered when he was only a small boy, has vengeance on the mind: he convinces wealthy madam Queenie Kapoor (Ashwini Kalsekar) to give him a job (that no one else wants), tries to kill evil officer Rana Singh (Sikandar Kher) but is seriously injured, gets nursed to health by Alpha (Vipin Sharma) and a group of outcasts, trains like Rocky and then goes after the evil-doers.  Patel (in his directorial debut) employs this music video-type aesthetic with mud, sweat and blood (as well as other fluids) filmed in all-too extreme close-up - perhaps to distract from the narrative, which lacks subtlety - and he sneaks in his own personal politics (pro-trans, anti-Narendra Modi ... got it), although I can't help but wonder if his "good intentions" (about helping the poor and resisting a nationalist government) aren't diminished a bit by the graphic violence.  That said, the last act has plenty of fisticuffs and the energy rarely lets up ... but next time, maybe he should be influenced by someone who isn't Danny Boyle....