Monkey Man (18)
Directed by Dev Patel
★★★★

 
ACTOR turned director Dev Patel has come along way since his breakout role in Danny Boyle’s Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire as he takes charge behind the camera for the first time in this deliciously dark and violent revenge thriller about faith. 

Ten years in the making, shot during the pandemic and produced by Jordan Peele (Get Out), Patel, who also produced it, co-wrote it with Paul Angunawela and John Collee and stars as the lead Kid, India’s answer to John Wick (viz: a one-man killing machine who befriends a cute dog). 

This is an audacious and impressive directorial debut by Patel who delivers a stylish, brutal but hugely entertaining underdog action film set against a very particular cultural and socio-political backdrop. 

Inspired by the legend of Hanuman, the Hindu god of wisdom, courage and devotion, Kid, an anonymous figure, takes part as the masked Monkey Man in an underground fight club run at night by Sharlto Copley (District 9).

During the day he plots explosive retribution on the corrupt leaders responsible for savagely killing his mother (Adithi Kalkunte), and plays  the long game. In the process he unwittingly becomes a saviour of the poor, the powerless and disenfranchised who are being hounded by these same unscrupulous people. 

With intricate fight scenes, riveting car chases, and punctuated by poignant social commentary, Patel shows thrilling promise as a director. I cannot wait to see what he does next.  

Out in cinemas on Friday.

The Trouble With Jessica (15)
Directed by Matt Winn
★★★

 
WRITER-DIRECTER Martt Winn shines the spotlight on the British middle classes, picking them and their values apart in this satirical comedy featuring an all-star cast. 

Married couple Sarah (Shirley Henderson) and Tom (Alan Tudyk) are forced to sell their prized family London home as they are having severe financial difficulties.

They invite their very best friends Richard (Rufus Sewell) and his wife Beth (Olivia Williams) round for a final dinner who bring an uninvited old friend, Jessica (Indira Varma). She is that annoying person who just has to be the centre of attention and to antagonise everyone. When they discover she has killed herself in the garden it begs the question: “What is the right thing to do?”

To call the police, or to take Jessica’s body back to her flat so that the house sale isn’t jeopardised?

Feeling like a stage play, this ridiculous farce is exquisitely acted and is driven by a knockout performance from Henderson. 

Was Jessica just being her vindictive self, or is some other plot afoot? What ensues is a very funny comedy of errors as these privileged people show their true colours as they stumble through a moral quagmire of their own making. 

Out in cinemas on Friday.
 
 

The First Omen (15)
Directed by Arkasha Stevenson
★★

 
WITH its penchant for prequels Hollywood delivers the genesis of The Omen answering the question (which no-one asked): where did Damien come from. 

Might this be because in the original film it was revealed that his real father was Satan and his real mother a female jackal? These facts that have conveniently been forgotten, and Damien is reimagined as an offspring of the devil engineered by a group of nuns in an orphanage in Rome. 

This film follows a troubled young American woman and novitiate Margaret (Nell Tiger Free) who is sent to the Italian capital to take the veil. There she uncovers this terrifying conspiracy to bring evil incarnate into the world. 

Featuring an impressive international cast which includes Bill Nighy, Charles Dance (who gets out while he can) and Sonia Braga, Arkasha Stevenson’s directorial debut, while full of nods to The Omen, lacks its bone-chilling scares and its frightening soundtrack.  

It’s Rosemary’s Baby meets Immaculate with less scary nuns.

Sadly it leaves the door open to more pointless sequels. Better to rewatch The Omen, which is still one of the best horrors ever made. 

Out in cinemas on Friday.

Seize Them! (15)
Directed by Curtis Vowell
★★★

 
FROM the writer of Horrible Histories: The Movie comes a surreal historical romp in which a spoilt monarch is overthrown by a peasant revolt led by the axe-wielding Humble Joan (Nicola Coughlan of Bridgerton, Derry Girls). 

Written by Andy Riley and directed by Curtis Vowell, this isn’t quite as funny as Horrible Histories but it is thoroughly enjoyable thanks to a superb cast, headed by Aimee Lou Wood (Living, Sex Education) as the narcissistic and snobbish Queen Dagan who is forced to flee her castle with the help of the lowly servant Shulmay (Lolly Adefope). 

They embark on an enlightening road trip where they team up with Bobik (Nick Frost), a cheerful shit shoveller, as Dagan is hunted down by her former chancellor (Jessica Hynes) who is determined to kill her. 

Full of great visual gags, it is driven by a standout performance by Coughlan as Joan, who is slowly seduced and corrupted by power, eventually becoming a tyrant herself. 

Weird but fun. 

Out in cinemas on Friday.