Movie Info
Movie Name: Beast
Studio: Universal Pictures/RVK Studios/Will Packer Productions
Genre(s): Action/Adventure/Drama
Release Date(s): August 10, 2022 (Egypt)/August 19, 2022 (US)
MPAA Rating: R
Idris is banking a lot on this lion not seeing around this tree branch
Dr. Nate Samuels (Idris Elba) is trying to recover from the death of his estranged wife and reconnect with his children Mare (Iyana Halley) and Norah (Leah Sava Jeffries). Traveling to the South African Mopani Reserve, Nate and his family meet with his wife’s childhood friend Martin Battles (Sharlto Copley) and see the land she loved. Martin takes Nate, Mare, and Norah into the reserve to show them some exclusive locations…but when an injured lion targets humans, Samuels and his daughters find themselves in a fight for survival.
Directed by Baltasar Kormákur, Beast is an action-adventure drama. The film was released to mixed to positive reviews.
My friends did a lot to help me…and it is pretty much all my fault
“Just for fun” movies can get a bad name. They aren’t serious and popcorn pics do have a place. They can be done well and they can be done poorly. Beast is definitely a popcorn movie, and it has its pluses and minuses.
The movie is just what you expect. Idris Elba fights a lion. There is no question and there is no mystique. There isn’t a magical lion or any big twist. The movie develops just as you expect but it manages to do it quickly. It is one of those frustrating films in that nothing is very surprising and it feels like the characters frequently make stupid mistakes…but fortunately, it keeps it light and fun.
The big pull is Idris Elba who has done much better but still commands the movie. It is a pretty physical movie, and Elba still is formidable. Both Iyana and Halley and Leah Sava Jeffries are pretty good as young actors in the role, but I do think Norah’s character is underdeveloped and Mare’s “you abandoned us” spiel gets a bit old. In general I like Sharito Copley, but he also seemed to be a pretty ineffective game warden.
That lion doesn’t know that he shouldn’t mess with Stringer Bell
The movie has a great location (it was largely shot around Namibia and South Africa). The movie opted for lions created by special effects and for the most part the “lion that never dies” looks quite good. The final fight between Idris and the lion is pretty brutal and used Leonardo DiCaprio’s battle with the bear in The Revenant as a model.
A movie like Beast surfaces every once in a while with films like Crawl and The Shallows, but Beast does feel a bit older. The movie Orca has a killer whale seeking revenge, and Beast essentially overlays that plot with the plot of Cujo which has a mother trapped in a car with her child…Beast could do better, but it is good enough to get by.
