70
Metascore
48 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Screen DailyRobert DanielsScreen DailyRobert DanielsAs a star, Patel has rarely been better. And as a director, he grants an intoxicatingly gruesome vision of the kind of gritty vehicles he could steer in the future.
- 80SlashfilmJacob HallSlashfilmJacob HallIt's an action movie for progressive-minded audiences who need some kind of relief in an era of instability and terror as well as an action movie for folks who just want to watch Dev Patel decimate every single person who dares cross his path.
- 80TheWrapChase HutchinsonTheWrapChase HutchinsonWhile far more grim than one might expect, and miles away from being a straight crowd-pleaser, it proves Patel is a force to be reckoned with, not only as an action star but as someone with skill behind the camera.
- 80Rolling StoneDavid FearRolling StoneDavid FearPatel’s pet project is as much a mash note to a way of presenting bloody-knuckled spectacle as it is a standard thriller.
- 75RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoRogerEbert.comBrian TallericoMonkey Man may be an origin story for a future action franchise character, but it feels more to me like an origin story for a future action star and director.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeThe Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeWith 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.
- 67The PlaylistMatthew MonagleThe PlaylistMatthew MonagleIf the results are more than a little preachy, it’s only because Patel cares so passionately about the issues he spotlights and the cinematic language of violence he uses to discuss them.
- 60The GuardianAdrian HortonThe GuardianAdrian HortonIf you have the stomach for singularly focused revenge and some truly graphic, visceral hand-to-hand combat, Monkey Man delivers the goods.
- 60ColliderPerri NemiroffColliderPerri NemiroffMan is a true mixed bag. The action is staggeringly impressive, both from a visual and storytelling standpoint, but the material in between runs the risk of deflating the experience via pacing problems and narrative confusion.