Beast

This review may contain spoilers!

 

Beast is a man vs. nature, survival film in which Nate, a struggling father, takes his two daughters to Africa to visit their recently deceased mother's home village. While on a safari tour the family is attacked by a lion gone feral after the butchering of it's pride by poachers. This film was one I really went into with a certain type of expectation and I was pleased to see it rise above that in a lot of ways. Our protagonist, Nate Samuels, is a likeable man who is struggling in his capacity as a father to his two teenage daughters. Nate is a doctor who separated from his wife shortly before she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. After her death Nate has struggled to reconnect with his children and tries to reforge a bond with them by taking them to their mother's home village in Africa. The very idea of this sort of homecoming as a way of connecting and healing is a very powerful aspect of the writing, it creates a lot of real reflection for the various characters and also creates further conflict for Nate. Constantly we are reminded he doesn't come from his wife's world, there's a degree of distance there that he is struggling against. He is constantly trying to repair relationships and come to terms with his own grief. The action going on around this thing looks good but it's not why I let myself become invested for an hour and a half, there's a solid family story here that will surprise most movie goers. The themes this film has around anti-poaching/pro-wildlife conservation are really nice, there's a really good perspective of how a lion pride has been cared for in the national park without being subjected to captivity.

The technical aspects of this feature is where the film really comes to life. I was extremely impressed with the cinematography on display here, the camera captures some absolutely glorious practical sets and has some very creative long takes. One of the things I was most worried about going into the film was how authentic the lions would look in the film, particularly our antagonist. The central lion is extremely well designed and detailed, movements looked very fluid and I was captured by the enormity and ferocity they could detail with this artificial character. Steven Price scores the film and crafts a very tense track, but more winningly he develops a variety of music that pays great tribute to the African setting of Beast that really grounds the film.

 

Idris Elba, who played Dr. Nate Samuels, is a remarkable lead for this film; I loved the development Elba portrayed showing a man who goes from being out of his depth to taking command of the dangerous situation he is in. Leah Jeffries, who played Norah Samuels, is one of the funnier performers in the cast; I liked that Jeffries being the younger sibling meant that she got to express her emotions more openly and vulnerably. Iyana Halley, who played Meredith Samuels, is a more guarded figure in the film constantly clashing her on-screen father; I loved the conflict between her and Elba and the way they both acted through their characters' experiences of pain and grief.

However, the best performance came from Sharlto Copley, who played Martin Battles. I have loved Copley for a long time, the dude has had immensely fantastic performance after immensely fantastic performance. I find it rare to chance upon a role I haven't liked the man in. This film is no different, he captures me almost immediately. The role of Martin is a very charismatic uncle type who helps run security over a large national park. Copley crafts a role who is very down to earth and grounded, he shares his experiences and finds interest in the stories others have to tell. I loved the way Copley forges a bond with Jeffries and Halley, seeing him develop a bond throughout their scenes together was very nice. Copley also shares great onscreen chemistry with Elba, the pair feel like old friends reunited while also portraying heavy tension between their respective roles. Martin is a character who is really involved with the local wildlife and we get some great scenes around the passion this character has for the natural world he lives near. I really felt the switch in attitude once Copley starts playing to the change in scenario; we see his role investigating deaths and playing security added a whole new dimension to what we were watching. This was a great character performance from Copley and I loved seeing the work he put into this film.

The things I didn't like about this film were the moments where I felt like my preconceptions were met. Is this a sign of being quick to judge? Well, not really. This is a bit of a kneejerk reaction to the type of film this is, specifically the dreaded 'when animals attack' genre film. We've seen films like this for a long while now: Jaws, Anaconda, Crawl to name a few. These films often play on our fears of predator type animals and tend to have an adverse real-life effect on the creatures that are being portrayed. When I sat there watching Beast, seeing this animal create bait, shrug off tranq rounds and survive a petrol detonation I start to feel the weight of this genre type. These animals become something supernatural, they cease to feel real the longer the film rolls on. I felt this more than anything in the last ten minutes when Nate starts hand to paw fighting with the lion in some wild survivalist ploy. It felt like something you'd expect from a film starring The Rock; only Dwayne Johnson probably would've won and skinned the lion himself. As it was watching two other CGI lions dash in to the rescue at the end felt very quick and abrupt. I really felt like the ending cheapened an otherwise promising film.

I was right there with this film until Idris Elba started bare knuckle brawling with the lion. I would give Beast a 6.5/10.