Fans of John Wick and The Raid will be psyched to see Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire, The Green Knight) scheme and jab his way through this bare-knuckled revenge flick inspired by the legend of Hanuman, an icon embodying strength and courage. An anonymous young man, Kid (Patel) ekes out a meager living in the Indian city of Yatana at an underground fight club where, night after night, wearing a gorilla mask, he is beaten bloody by more popular fighters for cash.

After years of suppressed rage following his mother's murder, Kid discovers a way to infiltrate the enclave of the city's sinister elite who continue to systematically victimize the poor and powerless. As his childhood trauma boils over, his mysteriously scarred hands unleash an explosive campaign of retribution to settle the score with the men who took everything from him.

This homage to martial arts movies, produced by Jordan Peele, is all the more remarkable for being made for only $10 million, a shoestring budget relative to other action movies. Due to production difficulties, Patel resorted to shooting some sequences on iPhones and Go Pros—and yet, the result is a well-paced and smartly edited work with an immersive shooting style that brings the city to life in all its chaotic and sometimes dangerous energy.

D: Dev Patel, US, 2024, 1h53m CC