"When I was a boy, my mother used to tell me a story of a demon king and his army. They brought fire and terror to the land. Until they faced the protector of the people. The White Monkey."
— Kid
Monkey Man is a 2024 action thriller film starring Dev Patel who also makes his directorial debut with the feature. Also starring is Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Sobhita Dhulipala, Sikandar Kher, Vipin Sharma, Ashwini Kalsekar, Adithi Kalkunte, and Makarand Deshpande. Jordan Peele produces.
Inspired by the Ramayana, the film follows Kid (Patel), a man who sets off on a campaign of vengeance against the corrupt elite who murdered his mother. The film was released April 5, 2024.
Monkey Man contains examples of:
- Action Girl: In the climax, several Hijra show up to soften up the club Baba's currently giving a speech in, and later arrive to save Kid from a massive force of goons who have him surrounded.
- Advertised Extra: Downplayed. Sharlto Copley as Tiger has a small but significant role, but is billed above most of the Indian cast except Dev Patel due to being the other recognizable "name" to Western audiences.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Baba Shakti desperately begs for his life when Kid has him at his mercy. Not that it does him any good.
- Alpha Bitch: Queenie is an archetypal example of shitty, privileged middle-to-upper-class Desi women who act like Western mean teenagers and are vicious to anyone they view as beneath them, especially when it comes to caste.
- Amazon Brigade: The Kid spends the middle chunk of the film being nursed back to health by a group of hijra women, who eventually assist him in his final assault against Rana and his goons.
- Amoral Afrikaner: Tiger, the promoter at the illegal fighting pit where Kid works, has a South-African accent and claims Africa is his original homeland. He also rigs the fights in his favor and stiffs the fighters over their pay, and is casually racist, starting with giving his fighters stereotypical names cooked up by white imperialist authors (in this case, Rudyard Kipling characters) and pandering to the majority-Hindu crowd by badmouthing Muslims and Christians.
- Amputative Sentencing: Alphonso apparently had his leg chopped off as punishment for trying to back out of a drug deal in the past. The camera shows that neither of his legs are prosthetics, so we can only assume that "leg" is an euphemism for something else getting chopped off.
- Animal Motifs: Monkeys, obviously. Kid has memories of his mother telling him stories of the Hindu monkey god, Hanuman, and calling him "my little Hanuman" just before her death. His persona when in the fighting pit is called "Monkey Man" and he wears a monkey mask while fighting.
- Animal Theme Naming: Everyone in the underground fight ring follows this. Three of the combatants are named Monkey Man, King Cobra and Baloo the Bear, while the guy in charge is known as Tiger.
- Armed Legs: Baba Shakti's sandals have a set of removable shivs hidden inside them.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: All of the villains are rich and/or powerful people. Baba Shakti is a populist political leader whose faction razes the natural world and beats up transgender people. Rana Singh is Shakti's right-hand man, who personally executes Shakti's orders to destroy Kid's hometown up to and including killing Kid's mom. The two are regular patrons of the high-class King's Club, ran by Queenie Kapoor, a drug seller and abusive pimp. For more broader examples, the decadent rich skyline contrasted against the suffering, poor slums are a recurring camera shot throughout the film; in one scene Kid points out how little the rich world cares about the poor.
- Agonizing Stomach Wound: Kid is Made of Iron throughout multiple horrific injuries, but is finally defeated at the end by a stomach wound from Baba Shakti, though it's left ambiguous whether it's fatal.
- Assassin Outclassin': Kid spends years working his way up from the gutter to gain a job as a waiter at a high-end restaurant Rana visits, and purchases a snub-nosed revolver to try and surprise him with in the bathroom. Unfortunately, he botches the element of surprise by trying to force Rana to remember his mother before he kills him then gets distracted by someone coming out of a stall, giving the police chief the chance to turn the tables on him and Kid barely escaping with his life.
- Bait-and-Switch: Alphonso talks to Kid about how nice his car is while the camera lingers on an expensive sports car... before switching to show his car is a tuk tuk. To be fair, it's a nice tuk tuk.
- Bathroom Brawl: Kid's first assassination attempt on Rana starts in a bathroom. He manages to kill several of his henchmen but not Rana himself.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Despite his night time job of jobbing for an underground fight club where he gets the shit beaten out of him, his face is always unblemished afterwards, particularly on the second fight we see where he encourages his opponent to punch him in the face repeatedly.
- Berserk Button: Kid goes into PTSD-induced shock whenever his mother is insulted; during combat, especially when Rana cracks about Kid's mom several times, he noticeably picks up a Heroic Second Wind and fights more viciously than ever.
- Big Bad: Baba Shakti, a famed guru manipulating the corrupt police and members of the Sovereign Party for his own gain.
- Bittersweet Ending: Kid gets what he wants at the end: Queenie, Rana, and Baba Shakti are all dead and can't hurt anyone any more, and his allies are all safe for now. However, while Rana and Baba are dead, the remainder of the Sovereign Party still stands to enact their misdeeds upon the population, Sita, Alpha, and Alphonso may be wanted criminals in the long run for associating with Kid (Alphonso already ended up on national news earlier after Kid's first assassination attempt), and Kid may or may not have died after the whole ordeal.
- Borrowed Biometric Bypass: Kid cuts off Queenie's thumb with the edge of a serving tray, and uses her thumbprint to access a staff-only elevator at the Kings' club.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Acknowledged. Kid asks Baba Shakti if he knows his mother's name or the names of any of the people he's had killed. He doesn't answer, but the true reply is heavily implied to be "no." It's also implied Rana doesn't recognize the fact his killer is the son of the woman he personally assaulted and murdered.
- The Cavalry: During the final climactic fight, when Kid is surrounded and heavily outnumbered, the Hijra women from the temple show up to handle the crowds, giving him the opportunity he needs to pursue Rana and Baba Shakti.
- Chekhov's Gun: Early on, Kid watches a report on the police force, controlled by Baba Shakti, ignoring or beating minorities like Hijra; later, a group of Hijra rescue Kid and train, then help confront Rana and Baba for their murderous abuse.
- Classical Anti-Hero: Aside from his apparent street connections and ability to take a punch or two, the Kid is rather out of his element early on. He has never fired a gun before and has to spend a lot of time practicing with it and he can barely keep his cool in the upper levels of the club he has infiltrated. And when he finally confronts his mother's killer at gun point, he takes a moment to taunt him instead of just shooting and subsequently gets distracted by a toilet flushing, which leads to Rana attacking him and getting away alive. The culmination of how out of his depth he is is when the Kid attempts to jump out of a window to escape his pursuers only to bounce off of it, forcing him to use the stairs to the parking garage. After recovering from his wounds and training at the Hijra temple, he sheds this completely to become a nearly One-Man Army.
- Combat Pragmatist: Kid shows himself to be this several times, using everything he can get his hands on as a weapon — glass shards, a serving tray, an oven door, and so forth. He's also more than happy to use his mouth as either a weapon or third hand when needed.
- Cool Mask: Kid is shown wearing an intimidating monkey mask as part of his Jobber role in the fight club. He later on bleaches the fur on it white to evoke the legend of the White Monkey — "protector of the people"— when taking the fight to Rana and his superiors.
- Cry for the Devil: In-Universe: While most Hindus consider Ravan to be a "Demon King" and celebrate his defeat as a triumph of good over evil, Baba Shakti secretly reveres him as a visionary who built an empire from nothing. Given Baba is an evil piece of shit who regularly razes villages to the ground to build horrific megafactories that profit on human suffering, it's fitting.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- The Kid's assassination attempt against Rana goes sideways, leading to him getting his ass kicked by the police captain though not without getting a few good hits in. The Kid then returns the favour to Rana at the end of the film, spending most of the fight handing him his ass. Same goes when he confronts Baba Shakti a few moments later.
- When Kid goes back to the combat pit late in the film, his first fight is against the crowd favorite King Cobra. He knocks him out with a single kick to the head.
- Depraved Homosexual: In this case, it's not "gay = depraved" as several queer characters are depicted positively and even participate in the fight scenes, but more to highlight a character's hypocrisy: Baba Shakti at best lets the police actively ignore crimes against Hijra, trans/third gender persons in India, and at worst is actively commanding them to beat them, as we find out when one Hijra is beaten to near death simply for standing up to an attempted extortion/eviction. However, he keeps a nubile young man as a minder during his usual rituals. Adding onto this is the Bharatiya Janata Party, the far-right party controlling India's government (as of 2024), has refused to recognise or legalise gay marriage.
- Deus ex Machina: Invoked, given the film's Hindu theming. When Kid botches his assassination attempt and is promptly gut shot and nearly drowned, a predominantly Hijra temple finds him, gives him surgery, and shelters him from the police. It's here Kid receives training and the Hindu iconography becomes extremely prominent, especially in the ensuing Vision Quest.
- Didn't Think This Through: Kid puts a lot of effort into his initial assassination attempt on Rana, getting both a job as a waiter to covertly approach him with, and a concealed revolver to shoot him with, but rather than just shooting him from behind, he invokes his mother while holding the gun from less than a foot away. When he gets distracted, Rana easily knocks the gun away, leading to a prolonged brawl.
- Doesn't Like Guns: Kid is depicted in several combat scenes fighting bare-handed against Mooks, even those armed with guns, using the environment to his advantage instead of their own firearms. That said, he does save up enough money from his underground fight club to purchase a revolver to assassinate Rana with, but his inexperience with proper firearm handling means he gets too close to the target when trying to use it, allowing Rana to turn the tables on him. Therefore, it's less that he doesn't like them, and more that Kid lacks the resources and training needed to properly use guns in a fight, compared to his lifetime of experience fighting bare-handed. Even near the end of the film, when he has the opportunity to secure a gun for free off of Queenie's corpse, he doesn't even bother to pick it up.
- The Dog Bites Back:
- Queenie is shown to treat the prostitutes in her employ as commodities at best and is heavily implied to outright murder them at worst, allows clients to harass them, and is abusive towards them if they do the slightest thing to disappoint her. Sita pays her back for this abuse by bludgeoning Queenie to death to save Kid.
- Hijra are one of the many targets of Rana and Baba's crimes; it's all but outright stated that the reason they seek out and save Kid's life, then train him in his mission is a mission of vengeance for them as it is as much for him.
- Eating the Eye Candy: Some of the people at Alpha's temple are vocally appreciative of Kid taking off his shirt while training.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: For all of Baba Shakti's sins and abuses towards minorities, his and Rana's hired goons are pan-Indian — for example, a Sikh features prominently in the major battle scenes.
- Everyone Is Armed: Inverted, for guns are very rare in the fight scenes. The only times they appear are when Kid's failure to shoot Rana leads to armed cops busting down the King's Club, when the sniper puts a bullet in Kid's abdomen, and when Queenie pins down Kid behind a table with handgun fire. The cops try to Car Fu Kid instead of shooting his tuk tuk, the owner of the brothel Kid crashes into uses an axe instead of a gun, and (despite the city being on high alert after Kid's failed assassination attempt) many of the goons in the final battle don't carry a gun — those that do wind up getting blown to bits by fireworks that Kid had stashed away.
- Exploding Fish Tanks: There's a fish tank in the gents' bathroom at the Kings' club - it cracks and starts leaking after being shot during the first fight between Kid and Rana, and Kid later smashes it completely during his attempt to flee.
- Fatal Fireworks: In lieu of guns, Kid repurposes Diwali fireworks as both a ranged weapon and improvised dynamite to blow away gun-toting goons during the climax.
- Foil: Baba Shakti and Alpha are a sharp contrast on the difference between someone who uses religion to further their own goals versus genuine faith. Baba Shakti wears expensive clothing and is always well groomed while Alpha wears very simple clothes and has visibly wild hair. Baba Shakti is an extremely rich Sinister Minister who uses his position and the corrupt police to further his wealth in contrast to Alpha who lives in the forest and is explicitly extremely poor. Alpha is queernote but firmly a good person, whereas Baba Shakti lets his cops target hijra while keeping a handsome young man as a servant. Finally, Baba Shakti can barely fight and uses hidden weapons whereas Alpha is a very skilled fighter who uses traditional sickles.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Invoked, but ultimately subverted. Baba Shakti is worried that if Kid is left alone "that nobody could turn into a somebody". Alpha too insists that he was made for something more, to fight for everyone not just himself, even drawing parallels to Hanuman. While he does take a level in badass, Kid ultimately remains nothing more than a lone gunman. His monkey mask is not a symbol of faith, but a disguise to bypass the police during a festival, and quickly discarded. He inspires nobody but Alpha and her followers, and allows the political face of the Sovereign party, who was winning the election, to escape with his life and presumably continue terrorizing the downtrodden. The only concession he makes to helping Alpha is providing their temple with some money and then killing Baba Shakti after he's finished with Rana, and even killing Baba is personal for him. The ending implies that he dies after the fighting. He fulfilled his revenge but never became a 'somebody' that the Sovereign Party has to fear inciting the masses against them.
- Genre Savvy: Whilst Rana is dismissive of Kid as just some wannabe assassin who failed to kill him, his superior is fully aware of the danger that Kid's example poses to them should others be likewise inspired to more blatant acts of rebellion, warning Rana that it's imperative that they find Kid and Make an Example of Them before the situation gets out of hand.Baba Shakti: He has to be extinguished, before your "nobody" becomes a somebody.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Inverted. The unquestionably heroic Kid has gruesome burn scars on his hands whereas Dirty Cop Rana has a thin neat scar across his ear.
- Graceful Loser: In defiance of Tiger, Kid instantly defeats his usual opponent. Tiger's initially furious and sends in his toughest fighter to beat Kid up as punishment, but when Kid beats him too and wins over the crowd, Tiger takes his loss in stride.
- The Hecate Sisters: The three women that aid Kid on his quest for vengeance. Kid's mother Neela is the mother, who provides a guiding light and his motivation in his revenge plot. Sita is the maiden, as a young and beautiful sex worker who has a Ship Tease with Kid (though it comes to nothing); Kid fights one of her customers. Alpha is the crone, a fierce trans woman who adopts Kid and teaches him to focus and find his spirituality in order to complete his mission.
- The Hero Dies: Maybe. One of the final shots of the film is the Kid slumping over, having just been stabbed in the gut by Baba Shakti.
- Heroes Love Dogs: Kid feeds scraps to a stray he spots outside Queenie's restaurant, which he later utilizes by having said stray sneak his revolver past security when he tries to kill Rana.
- Hired on the Spot: Played with. Kid asks Queenie if she can give him a job as a display of gratitude for him returning her stolen purse to her. She initially claims she won't just hire anyone and insists on him giving her references and a CV, but he shows her the scars on his hands and tells her they're proof that he'll do any dirty job that no-one else wants to do, no questions asked, and ends up hired as a kitchen cleaner.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Baba Shakti's attempted eradication of the poor and minorities only sets him up to be confronted and karmically put down by Kid:
- His order to burn a poor village to make way for a megafactory ensures our protagonist is solely focused on exacting revenge against him and his goons.
- It's never outright stated, but it's heavily implied the desperately poor criminal underworld that helps Kid get to a position where he can target Rana and Baba are doing it in hopes they can get rid of a thorn in their side.
- It's all but outright said that Baba's constant police raids on minorities, including Hijra, only ensure that a Hijra temple rescues Kid after his botched assassination attempt, shelters him from the police manhunt, and gives him training and backup for his final showdown with Baba. Not only that, but if Baba's cops weren't so focused on beating or ignoring minorities, they would have bothered to search a Hijra temple to find Kid before he could enact his revenge.
- Hypocrite: Early on in the film, Baba Shakti preaches a message of non-violence, but freely commands a corrupt police force to Rape, Pillage, and Burn any land he wants for himself. He preaches generosity, but a news interview brings up the fact the workers are beaten and worked to death for very little. He preaches tolerance, but his police goons have targeted racial, religious, and queer minorities — and he's implied to be a Depraved Homosexual, if having a nubile, handsome man as his attendant says anything. Finally, he tries to talk Kid down during the ending and how violence and revenge only cause more suffering... only to try and get some revenge of his own and violently injure Kid. When Kid overpowers him, he simply pleads to be spared... after trying to kill Kid.
- It's Personal with the Dragon: Because Rana killed the Kid's mother right in front of him and set his home ablaze rather than giving the order to drive the locals off their land by any means necessary, Rana is dealt a brutal drawn out beatdown, while the Guru is given a quicker death.
- Insistent Terminology: Baba Shakti dismisses a complaint about unfair treatment of workers at a factory he owns, stating that the "factory" is really a "commune" and it doesn't have "workers", it has "disciples".
- Interrupted Intimacy: One of the fights takes place in a brothel, and at one point Kid and the pimp crash through one of the bedroom walls, startling the client and working girl on the other side.
- Jobber: Kid supports himself by taking this role in the underground fight club, getting pummeled by more popular fighters for meager cash earnings. This proves to be useful for him when he starts escalating his attempts at Revenge on Rana and his boss, as endless nights of getting the shit kicked out of him have made him very durable in a pitched fight, and adaptable in hand-to-hand combat.
- Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: In the final battle, the Hjiras' wear long, flowy lehengas as they beat down the security detail.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Queenie is in the middle of threatening Kid at gunpoint before Sita kills her with a dinner tray to the head.
- Line-of-Sight Alias: When asked his name in the restaurant, Kid says his name is Bobby, after the brand of bleach he's using to clean the kitchen.
- Lodged-Blade Recycling: Several fights have Kid being stabbed with a switchblade, only to pull it out and use it against his attackers. He ultimately kills Baba Shakti with the shivs that the guru tried to stab him with.
- Made of Plasticine: Kid uses a metal serving platter to sever a finger near the end of the movie. It doesn't appear to be particularly sharp, mind, so how it cuts through bone isn't quite clear.
- Man Behind the Man: Whilst Baba Shakti is supposedly only a guru whom provides spiritual advice to Sovereign Party leader, it soon becomes clear that he's really the one actually in charge.
- Moody Trailer Cover Song: The second trailer uses the already moody "In The Air Tonight".
- Mushroom Samba: At one point, Kid ingests a toxic hallucinogen which forces him to relive his memories of his mother's death and his village being destroyed.
- Neon City: The urban location of the film only has a few daytime scenes. Every other time, it's set at night, which makes the neon lights along the richer districts more prominent.
- Nepotism: Kid's promotion isn't earned by his skill at work; he gets it by promising Alphonso money, tipping him off to the rigged fights at the fight club Kid frequents.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Kid's second fight against Rana is brutal, with him clearly taking his time beating Rana to death with a shoe, only hitting him when he tries to get back up again.
- No Name Given: The protagonist's given name doesn't come up during the film's events. Some characters call him "Kid" as a reference to him having a younger appearance than everyone else (and this is used for him in the credits); he introduces himself as "Bobby" to Alphonso (there's a couple cans of "Bobby's Bleach" in the scene to indicate that's a Line-of-Sight Name); and the underground fight ring knows him as Monkey Man, which is a title.
- Obfuscating Disability: The wheelchair-bound salesman-turned-pickpocket who steals Queenie's purse quickly discards his wheelchair in order to better escape the scene of the crime.
- Oh, Crap!: Alphonso watches a news broadcast about the "terrorist attack" on the Kings club, sees his own face in the security footage, and realises the police are going to come after him as an accomplice.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Near the end of the film, this is what Kid does to Rana. After being helpless when watching his mother getting slowly beaten to immobility by Rana with an accessory (his belt) and then killed, Kid does the same to him: slowly beating Rana with an accessory (a shoe) until he can't get up, then actually killing him. To complete the Ironic Death retribution, Kid notices a close associate of Rana and Baba watching on in terror like he once did years ago.
- Pedo Hunt: Kid makes a point of beating up a brothel owner rather than continue his escape from the police when he sees an underage girl in the room.
- Politically Incorrect Villain:
- A news report early in the film indicates that the police, headed by Rana Singh, are deliberately ignoring crimes against transgender people, the Sovereign Party is shown to be very anti-Christian and anti-Muslim, and Baba Shakti, for all his populist rhetoric, treats the poor like garbage, having them run off their land, mistreating his workers, and downplaying both crimes in the media.
- Tiger — an Amoral Afrikaner — gets some Cheap Heat in the underground fight club by casually bringing up possible Muslims or Christians in the majority-Hindu crowd, causing much boos.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner:
- Attempted. Kid says "Blessings from my Mother" in Hindi before trying to shoot Rana during his initial assassination attempt. Unfortunately, it just gives Rana warning that he's about to do so, letting him quickly knock the gun from his hand when Kid is distracted.
- At the end of Kid's fight with Baba Shakti, as the guru begs for mercy, Kid declares "Only God can judge you now!" right before delivering the killing blow.
- Punch Parry: During Kid's and Rana's final fight, they clash with a jab, notably the former tanks it, while the latter is grimacing in pain afterward.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Rana at a bare minimum attempted to rape Kid's mother before killing her, giving Kid (and the audience) more reason to want him dead.
- Revolvers Are for Amateurs: Kid is a seasoned pit fighter, but still brings a revolver with him during his first attempted attack on Rana. It gets knocked out of his hand and their fight becomes a straight-up brawl, which he loses. The next time they meet, he doesn't bring a gun, but is much more able to hold his own thanks to a more refined fighting style.
- Ripped from the Headlines: The film's "Sovereign Party" is a very thinly veiled stand-in for the Bharatiya Janata Party, the right-wing ultra-nationalist Hindu party led by current Prime Minister Narendra Modi (whom is definitely not represented in the film by Baba Shakti's government stooge).
- Rule of Symbolism:
- Roots, and their association with nature and/or goodness. Flashbacks to Kid's childhood see that the forest grounds around his hometown were absolutely covered with roots; the forest was razed to make way for Baba Shakti's factory. Kid's mom refers to the creases on his hand as roots, and in the present day they're covered up by blackened burn scars to symbolize his loss of innocence after his mother was killed, while another character sees the burn scars as a symbol of his determination to do good at all costs. The temple is covered all over its walls with roots, and it is threatened to be razed by Baba Shakti, which none of the good characters want.
- The Hanuman iconography is heavily enmeshed from the get-go, opening with Kid's mother reading him the story of Hanuman and calling him her little Hanuman, Hanuman-associated stories being brought up from time to time, Kid's mask being that of a monkey (Hanuman was a monkey), and Kid even re-enacts the iconography of Hanuman opening his chest to reveal Lord Rama and Sita inside, albeit so that he relieves his memories of his village being destroyed and Rana killing his mother to renew his devotion to bringing down Rana. All of this ties into the association that Hanuman is a warrior of the people; like him, Kid represents the downtrodden masses and fights in their favor.
- The three main villains - a corrupt Godman
and head of a violent Hindu nationalist party, a corrupt trigger-happy chief of police who refuses to do any actual police work besides razing entire villages and assaulting women, and a spoiled Rich Bitch "goddess" who abuses everyone vaguely below them and especially desperate women they've forced into sex trafficking - are emblematic representations of common issues in India. A fourth minor villain is a government figurehead who gives all his power to the Godman, and another is a Amoral Afrikaner right from South Africa, which has historically racially abused its Indian populace with Apartheid. - Kid is heavily associated with bleach, each instance tying into his plot for revenge. First, he claims that the burns on his hands came from cleaning with bleach, both covering up their true origin and convincing Queenie to give him the jobs "no one else wants". Next, he names himself after a bleach brand when Alphonso asks him for his name, and his connection to Alphonso is how he's able to get in proximity to Rana and make his move. Thirdly, to lure Rana away from the rest of the party, he tips some powdered bleach from the same brand into a capsule and passes it off to him as cocaine, giving him a sudden nosebleed and intense pain. Finally, when he resumes his violent campaign against Rana, Kid bleaches his monkey mask white to associate it with Hanuman and also give him a disguise to get to the King's Club during Diwali.
- Scars Are Forever:
- The palms of Kid's hands are heavily scarred with burns from his mother's corpse being set alight.
- Rana has a thin scar across his ear from when Kid's mother tried to stab him with a knife.
- Shaky Cam: Nearly all fight scenes are filmed with a neurotic shake that still keeps the action clear; much of this is to channel that Kid is not a classically trained fighter and is either berserk with anger, trying to fight a much larger enemy force, or trying to run.
- Shoe Slap: During their second fight, Kid strikes Rana in the face with a high-heeled shoe and beats him to near-death with it. This is a grave insult in Desi cultures.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: Kid's goofy, sleazy acquaintance Alphonso only has fleeting appearances and about four lines after his escape from the assassination attempt.
- Shout-Out:
- Alphonso has named his wagon after Nicki Minaj — for its bumper and headlights.
- When the Kid is purchasing a firearm, the dealer mentions the John Wick films and produces a pistol that the titular assassin uses. Later on, the Kid's suit during the climax of the film (the black-on-black seen in the poster) is also a reference to the film series, and much of the film is a dreamy, neon-haze underworld like later John Wick entries.
- All of Kid's opponents at the fight club are named for The Jungle Book characters; this is likely as much of a Take That! as it is a Shout-Out, as they're named by a racist white Afrikaner for characters written by a staunch imperialist.
- Once Kid gets serious and returns to the fight club, his first fight is a one-kick Curb-Stomp Battle in the vein of Ong-Bak.
- Sinister Minister: A non-Christian variation. Baba Shakti is a corrupt Hindi guru who uses the police as his own personal army, steals land for his factory, mistreats his workers, and spouts populist rhetoric.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Queenie frequently sprinkles her sentences with a generous dose of "fuck"s to emphasize her authority.
- The Smurfette Principle: There's one woman associated with the villains: sex trafficker Queenie.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: One fight scene has Boney M.'s "Rivers of Babylon" as its backing track — a chilled-out, mellow song to accompany Kid shivving several security guards.
- Super Window Jump: Attempted but subverted. After his failed attempt to assassinate Rana, Kid attempts to escape by jumping out the window, but just bounces off of it instead and badly bruises his shoulder.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Needing to flee from Rana's goons after his failure to kill him, Kid tries to jump out the window on a high floor of the restaurant to escape. Understandably, a window above a dangerous height is made of strong glass, and without throwing something else at it first to crack and weaken the glass, Kid just bounces off it without leaving a scratch.
- Later, Kid escapes on-foot and apparently manages to evade the police manhunt, but he's no match for a sniper round to the gut — and this is a jarring change from Kid killing several security guards and cops and escaping from a police van. In addition, it's made very clear that it takes him at least a month to recover from his injuries.
- Baba Shakti is shown to be in great physical condition and his sandals contain hidden shivs. Neither help him much against Kid, who's in even better shape, has more experience fighting, and is roughly a third his age. That said, it's clear Kid is grievously wounded by his surprise attack, and may be dead by the end of the movie.
- Tap on the Head: Exaggerated. Kid is brutally beaten on the head throughout the movie, whether in the boxing ring, knocked out on concrete, and punched during multiple fights. He's never shown experiencing any longterm effects and barely even seems dazed when he gets back up.
- Throwing the Fight: Kid is told to take a dive a couple times in the underground boxing club where he fights. He tips off Alphonso about one of his fights to earn a promotion.
- Tourism-Derailing Event: Kid's initial assassination attempt on Rana, according to the news, has put the whole city on high alert because it happened a few days away from the Hindu holiday Diwali.
- Tranquil Fury: Kid's tone is seething with rage at Rana when he tried to assassinate him in the restaurant. despite maintaining a focused demeanour. It's unfortunately Deconstructed, as it makes Kid too hesitant at pulling the trigger, blowing the element of surprise and allowing Rana to knock the gun from his hand before he can fire. It's later on implied that Kid learns how to channel his anger into impulsive, instinctive and immediate primal action in a fight, to avoid the same mistake.
- Uncertain Doom: After killing Baba Shakti, Kid collapses, having been stabbed in the gut before overpowering Baba Shakti, but the movie ends before it can be confirmed if he lived (having survived life-threatening injuries earlier in the movie) or died (before he falls, he sees a vision of his late mother).
- Underestimating Badassery. Rana's superior, Baba Shakti, is well aware of the danger Kid's quest for Revenge on them poses, and warns Rana he should not do this, ordering him to hunt down the "crazy kid from the gutter" before he becomes something more dangerous.Baba Shakti: Just one small ember can burn down everything.
- Vanity License Plate: The tuk tuk Alphonso drives has the license plate "53XY 8OY".
- Villains Want Mercy: Both Rana and Baba beg for mercy when they are cornered; the former's pathetic begging is cathartic for a hulking brute who spends most of the movie taunting Kid
- Villain with Good Publicity: By allying themselves with a far right political party, the villains give themselves an air of legitimacy, even framing Kid's first attempt to kill Rana as the act of a terrorist.
- You Killed My Mother: Kid's motivation to pursue Rana, and later Baba Shakti, is to avenge his mother.
- Your Mom: Kid attempts a Pre-Mortem One-Liner about his mother during his botched attack on Rana. During the fight that follows, Rana, unimpressed by Kid's fighting prowess, tells him "I hope your mother fucks harder than you fight."
"Ladies and gentleman, are you ready for a fight?!"
