Movie Review: Beast
One-liner: aloof characters, subpar CGI and uninspired writing undermine this promising, stellar yet forgettable safari thriller.
There’s obviously a market for monster movies and according to recent trends involving shark tornados, it’s not imperative to aim high. Whether it’s oversized sharks in Black Demon, ill-tempered alligators in Crawl or a ridiculously big snake in Anaconda, there’s a good range of natural world monsters to choose from. One of the more difficult creatures to get right is lions. As much as the new The Lion King realised its nature documentary fairy tale world, getting a real-life Scar to get nasty enough to sustain a feature film is a Kilimanjaro for this subgenre. As far as we’ve come in terms of visual effects technology, the artistry of restraint is still lacking when it comes to representing these majestic and dangerous beasts.
Beast attempts to summit this survival action adventure mountain as a father and his two teenage daughters find themselves hunted by a massive rogue lion. This movie comes from Baltasar Kormákur, the director behind Adrift and Everest. While it has some obvious parallels with rogue lion thriller, The Ghost and the Darkness, the films are worlds apart in terms of quality and immersion.
Set in Africa, the idea of a safari holiday adventure gone wrong is far from original. While Beast isn’t trying to reinvent the subgenre, it’s mostly uninspired and content to do just enough. The main attraction for this thriller is without a doubt Idris Elba and Sharlto Copley, two recognisable Hollywood stars who have rooted themselves in Africa with Elba’s towering depiction of Nelson Mandela in Long Walk to Freedom and Copley’s star-making turn in District 9.
Unfortunately, as talented as these actors are, this vehicle isn’t designed to maximise their abilities, but rather help make up for thin characterisation and bland screenwriting. There to contribute their star power and throw their weight behind the aloof characters with Elba taking on a The Rock type performance and Copley chiming in with a fairly predictable turn as a game ranger, there’s not all that much to hang the movie on.
“The travel brochure said nothing about this!”
The notion of a relentless predator is nothing new and unfortunately for Beast, it doesn’t have the heart or comedy to truly invest audiences. To make matters worse, while serviceable for a B-movie, the CGI and visual effects aren’t quite convincing enough to add weight to the ever-present threat of a man-hunting lion. Using a single shot simulation, the filmmakers are able to add a sense of urgency and immediacy to some scenes but this gimmick is a bit too self-conscious, further restrained by overambitious CGI.
While Elba and Copley are consummate professionals, Beast is content to revel in mediocrity which subverts immersion and ultimately hurts the overall film experience. Elba and Copley’s presence add spice, but this flagging thriller doesn’t even have it’s-so-bad-it’s-good working for it. Coming in to land with a scene unapologetically lifted from The Revenant, Beast is a clear case of a film that cast and crew made as a professional endeavour.
While there are worse safari thrillers out there, Beast doesn’t really present a clear case for why it should be one of the better ones. While it may do just enough to keep audiences watching mindlessly, it drags, is instantly forgettable and is an altogether underwhelming movie that could have been so much more with a bit of spit and polish.
[For another take on Beast, catch our review of the big screen experience.]
The bottom line: Dull
