You can tell this was Dev Patel's first time directing because it feels like he refused to cut any scene from it in the interest of keeping the story engaging. The second hour of the movie could have been 20 minutes. There was no longer any plot, you knew exactly what was going to happen from the midpoint, you just didn't realize it was going to take over an hour of pensive looks and Dev punching 200 people. The best way I can describe it is if that scene from John Wick where he takes forever to get up the stairs and then he's right at the top and tumbles down? Imagine if that was half the movie. It could have been great if only it was properly edited.
Review of Monkey Man
