Movie Review: ‘Beast’ Blu-ray

Review by James Lindorf

Director Baltasar Kormákur has a slew of hits in his native Iceland but has yet to have significant success on an international level. His most successful movie in North America came nine years ago with the buddy cop movie “2 Guns” starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg. He has traded in Washington and Wahlberg for Sharlto Copley and Idris Elba in his latest feature film “Beast.” Universal Pictures brings the action thriller to theaters around the country on August 19th.

Early on, Idris Elba had a stellar career in fantastic television series like “The Wire” and “Luther.” He turned that success into a career in film, doing both prestige pictures like “Beasts of No Nation” and joining summer blockbuster franchises The Fast and The Furious and the MCU. He is known for taking on a large variety, often to the surprise of his many fans, and “Beast” is his first attempt at a man vs. animal actioner. Elba plays Dr. Nate Daniels, recently widowed, who returns to South Africa, his wife’s home country, on a long overdue vacation with their daughters, 18-year-old Mer (Iyana Halley, The Hate U Give) and 13-year-old Norah (Leah Sava Jeffries, Rel). Their trip takes them through the village where she grew up before exploring a game reserve managed by Uncle Martin Battles (Sharlto Copley, District 9). What is meant as a healing journey becomes a fight for their lives against a blood-thirsty lion.

The best thing going in “Beast” is its cast. Everyone is giving an admirable performance, but Idris and Copley are on a different level. Their moment of reconnecting and reminiscing is the best scene in the movie. It is undoubtedly Idris’ movie, but everyone else gets to shine a little. Jefferies and Halley have moments between them, with Idris, and with the lion allowing them to give a well-rounded performance even if it isn’t that deep.

Screenwriter Ryan Engle began his career in film eight years ago and has written characters for big names, including Liam Neeson, Gabrielle Union, and Dwayne Johnson. His films have always been part of the action genre, including “Non-Stop,” “Rampage,” and “Breaking In,” so penning the script for “Beast” was in his wheelhouse. Fortunately or unfortunately, “Beast” has a lot in common with his previous films. They all have decent action and some good character moments but are ultimately formulaic and offer nothing new to the genre. Thankfully films can be plenty entertaining without being groundbreaking.

Like most elements, the CGI in “Beast” is fine, but nothing worth boasting about. The cinematography, on the other hand, is quite beautiful. The way it embraces different elements of nature reminds me of the recent Hulu hit “Prey.” Except for the too frequent dream sequences, “Beast” is a beautiful-looking film from beginning to end.

Humans vs. animals is a recurring plot in film, the most notable entry probably being “Jaws.” But there have been many others, including 1981’s “Roar,” ’96’s “The Ghost and the Darkness, and the underappreciated 2019 movie “Crawl.” While the human story is standard fare, this other film is playing out in the background with the lion as the main character is the lion. While the humans are just trying to survive a terrible vacation, the lion is living out its own “Death Wish” style movie. A gang of bad men attacked him and his family, and he is on a quest for justice, not just against the poachers but against all people.

Seeing the “rampaging” animal from its own POV would have been an interesting, unique, and most likely less profitable venture. Thankfully they know what they are making and keep it to a tight 93 minutes before its predictability can wear on audiences. The strength of the performances and cinematography elevates the film, but they can only do so much, giving the movie a final score of 3.5 out of 5.