As an actor, Dev Patel has tended to play bighearted softies in rousing crowd-pleasers. His character in Monkey Man, simply known as “Kid,” bucks that trend while also feeling like a sharp declaration of intent from Patel himself. Having lost his family and his home to the corrupt leaders of a fictional Indian city, Kid seeks to destroy the people who ruined his life, one fistfight at a time. But Monkey Man is no mere formulaic revenge film. Directed by Patel from a screenplay he co-wrote, the movie combines brutal violence with the kind of somber story about finding purpose amid an oppressive society that recalls much of his previous work. The result is a stylish thriller that’s also a cathartic unleashing of Patel as a performer and storyteller. With Monkey Man, he asserts himself as someone who can break the boundaries Hollywood typically establishes for actors like him.–The Atlantic