Jordan Peele associated movies suck. All of them.
After watching several of his movies, they all seem to follow the same modus operandi too. Lure you in with a solid first act only to regress into preachy, progressive nonsense while he has your attention.
His most lauded movie, Get Out, is perhaps his most blatantly racist and preachy, and it only gets worse from that point forward. Us was a message about marginalization and classism. You might think he can’t ruin a beloved classic like Candyman, but his remake devolves into nothing more than a sermon about gentrification by the end. When you think Nope could just be a movie about aliens, it collapses into a lesson in racism against a black farmer.
Peele can’t help but put his ideology into his movies. I argue he can’t be creative without it. Whatever comedic genius we saw in the classic Key and Peele has been replaced by the activist. And this is a shame because, like I said, the first acts of these movies are well done. And the same goes for Monkey Man.
While Jordan Peele did not write or direct Monkey Man, that was Dev Patel, he did produce it, and you can see the same disappointing M.O. in this movie. If you want to be an activist movie, fine. Just don’t dupe me into thinking I’m watching a pure action movie.
Maybe I’m wrong. Watch the trailer, and you can tell me if this is false advertisement.
Monkey Man | Official Trailer
The Bait…
Don’t get me wrong, Dev Patel knows how to shoot strong action scenes. Monkey Man is about a kid who was told the story of Hunuman, the white monkey who protects the people. There is a rising Hindu nationalist party in his country and his mother is brutally killed by Rana Singh, a corrupt police officer sent to quell their protest. The Kid watches as Singh burns his mother alive, and he burns his own hands trying to save her.
Years later, the Kid works as a jobber in an underground fighting ring. Wearing a black monkey mask, he takes dives for money. Following the ruling nationalist party, Kid tails them to a cocaine den and brothel where Rana and many top leaders frequent. Kid tricks the Madam owner, Queenie, into getting a low-level job as kitchen staff. Kid is witness to frequent drug use and the exploitation of prostitutes while plotting his revenge. Kid strikes a friendship with one of the low-level gangsters and one of the prostitutes as he trains a stray dog in secret to bring him a revolver at the backdoor to bypass security.
Posing as a server, Kid poisons Rana’s cocaine hit to lure him into the bathroom where he lays in wait. Even stunned by the poison, Rana absolutely beats Kid down with his far superior fighting skills and Kid is force to flee when his men break into the bathroom.
There is a nice car chase as Kid steals a charged-up rickshaw. Kid gets arrested but manages to escape and is rescued by a local temple that hides him from the police.
This all sounds good, right? Great setup for a hero’s journey, but that is the first act and this is a Jordan Peele produced movie. This is when the train goes off the rails.
…and Switch
At its core, Monkey Man is a movie against the current Modi regime in India. There has been a rise in Hindu nationalist attacks against many groups in India, such as Christians and Islamic groups. There have also been attacks against India’s Hijra community, which is their version of LGBT. No one should be attacked and burned out of their homes as we’ve seen happen with much frequency there. Yet, Dev Patel found an awkward way of shedding light on this issue.
The Hijra people are the ones who rescue Kid and hide him from the police. At the temple, Kid is introduced to Ardhanarishvara, the Indian trans god. We spend about the next 30 minutes getting lessons into the virtues of transness by an obvious man in a dress while Kid is taught by the queens to fight and be their champion. It’s as if the Hijra have magical, prophetic powers they get by being trans as they take Kid on his journey to face his past and future.
It’s a far left turn that literally comes out of nowhere. The Hijra are mentioned briefly in news footage but become central players from this point on in the movie. The sudden shift into trans praise brings an already long movie to a screeching halt.
The movie slightly recovers when Kid finally begins his revenge on the regime in brutal fashion with help from his new queen army.
Why You Shouldn’t Watch
When Monkey Man decides to be an action movie it’s great. The action sequences are well shot and are downright brutal in execution.
Even the fight scenes with the queens are good, since it makes sense that even a man in a dress could defend himself. Yet, instead of sitting through the middle act, just watch the fight scenes online. Unless you want to learn how unlucky you are that you are not trans too.
At this point, it’s safe to avoid movies associated with Jordan Peele. I know I will from now on.
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