If you examine all of the individual parts, then there’s no reason why Monkey Man wouldn’t end up becoming an international sensation, and that’s barely even hyperbolic.
Academy Award-nominated actor Dev Patel – one of the most consistent on-camera talents of his generation – stars, co-wrote, produced, and made his feature-length directorial debut that was described as “John Wick in Mumbai,” which is a mouthwatering prospect for fans of both the actor and the genre.
The buzz was so strong, in fact, that Netflix stepped in and shelled out a cool $30 million to acquire the distribution rights not long after principal photography had wrapped. The only problem is that this happened all the way back in March of 2021, and yet Monkey Man is nowhere to be seen.
What’s on Netflix has done some digging, and there doesn’t appear to be an imminent debut on the horizon, either. There’s been no official images and not even a whiff of a trailer, with the streaming service initially announcing Monkey Man as part of its slate for 2022 and 2023, before quietly removing it on both occasions.
The story finds Patel’s recently-released convict end up drawn into a world of corporate greed that pits him directly against the people who took away everything from him before he was locked up. Monkey Man might release in 2024, but you’ve got to wonder what the holdup is when it’s been finished for so long, especially when the company spent so much money to get its hands on the project in the first place.