BEAST (2022)

BEAST (2022)

Tagline: Sometimes the rustle in the bushes actually is a monster.

(Adventure, Drama, Stuck In A Jeep) [R]

Everyone knows a lion is dangerous, but I’ve never seen anything like this…multiple attacks without eating its prey, attacking a vehicle…lions don’t do that. 

In this one, Dr. Samuels takes his daughters Mer (Meredith) and Norah back to their mother’s birthplace in the Savanah. They visit their “uncle” Martin who decides to take them sightseeing. They end up getting trapped in a jeep by a massive rogue lion whose pride was killed the night before. In a race against time, we find out the lion isn’t the deadliest force in the area.  

I can say that the effects crew on this movie did a pretty good job with the exception of the night close-ups. Some of those are a bit rough. The daytime CGI on the lion is fine though. Having said that, it’s still better than a host of “lions will kill you” movies that are out there. I have seen a lot of complaining about the drama part of the story feeling crammed in, but I thought it fit the story well. If anything though, I probably would have skipped the “dreamy” weirdness that Dr. Samuels goes through. I understand misery and the things he was going through, but it wasn’t necessary for this type of film and it didn’t add anything to it. 

Acting wise Leah Jeffries (FAITH UNDER FIRE) as Norah and Iyana Halley (THIS IS US) as Mer, are pretty solid with a few odd moments here and there where you can see they weren’t able to carry the levity of the scene, but other than that, we’ve got two more actresses here that show a ton of promise. Idris Elba who plays Dr. Samuels never seems to mail it in and his performance and range in this movie are outstanding. Sharlto Copley is also very good in this as uncle Martin. I am kind of glad because I could not stand this dude in DISTRICT 9. I thought he pretty much ruined that movie. That’s right, I said it. 

I am a pretty emotional dude and this one got me at the end. I love seeing certain things in movies and this one had a few of the elements I really look for. It also had some I didn’t. I think poachers and animal cruelty for no real reason get to almost everyone. This movie is relatively short, but it does a lot in that short time and overall I think this was a pretty effective movie. The pacing seemed just about perfect, with maybe the exception of the elongated “stuck in a jeep” scene. I think if we are going for a “watch these people in a trap” movie, then that kind of stuff can work, but in this flick, I found myself just wanting to get back to seeing either the beautiful setting, getting to know Dr. Samuel and his family better or a giant hippo or something. Where are all the hippos? If you are going to make a movie with water in the Savanah, you had better get me a hippo!

If I was going to improve this one, I would have added a more interesting soundtrack and score. The last song in this movie is really out of place. It would be kind of like putting Glen Campbell’s Rhinestone Cowboy at the end of a STAR WARS movie, that kind of out of place. 

Actually, you know what. That’s it. Get me Universal on the phone. We need to shoot a 7-minute hungry-hungry hippos scene where they are just gobbling up poachers and stick that right in the middle of this damn thing. 

Overall BEAST gets a 4 out of 7. We aren’t breaking any new ground here and the final sequence was pretty unrealistic when you stack it up against the rest of this film's realism. The unrealism never bugs me though. You should know by now; I almost never go to a movie to see realism. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.