A jumbled parable with a glowing core

EVEN WHEN A MOVIE IS FAR FROM PERFECT, YOU CAN tell when a director has poured his soul into it. Dev Patel's directorial debut Monkey Man-he's also the movie's star-is trying too hard, and for too much. It wants to be a political allegory, a somber study of a man haunted by childhood trauma, a clarion blast of inspiration for downtrodden humans seeking to summon strength, and last but hardly least, a brutally exhilarating action entertainment.

- STEPHANIE ZACHAREK

It succeeds at some of those things, some of the time. But Patel's conviction, both as a fledgling director and an intensely likable actor, has a blurring effect on the movie's flaws. Just when you realize you're confused by the somewhat muddled story, or lost in its myriad references, his solemn warmth draws you back in. The movie wouldn't work with another star. It's Patel's show through and through.

His character has a generic name, Kid, that marks him as a man who's never been able to find his center. He lives in the fictional city of Yatana-with its mix of obscene wealth and abject poverty, its views of tuk-tuks slashing down the road and street dwellers huddled under newspapers, it's like a cross between Mumbai and Gotham City. Kid makes a meager living as a wrestler at an underground fight club, his haunted visage hidden by an ape mask. A sleazy promoter (Sharlto Copley) pays him to lose to his opponents, and every night he's surrounded by spectators howling for his blood. He's the classic underdog who's ready to burst out of his skin.