Beast

A suspenseful, technically well made survival thriller, unfortunately with a mediocre and rather wobbly script. Idris Elba and his two restless daughters go to South Africa to reminisce about their mother, and on the trip they encounter the devious and vengeful Simba. Nonsensical decisions needlessly clash with terrific direction and amazing cinematography. Steven Price's score pulses brilliantly and the acting is pretty good too. The pleasantly grounded Sharlto Copley was a surprise. And the lion looks really good. (2024-05-03)

A stereotypical survival drama that gets plus points for the lion, but otherwise doesn't score that much. The visuals of the predator are not impressive, the suspense didn't work for me, and there's a drastic lack of a strong enough background for the main character to make the viewer care about him at least in part. It doesn't offend, but I was expecting a more polished ride with more genre fun or innovation. (2022-09-26)

Beast offers a different world and a different predator alongside the older The Shallows and Crawl, while being on par in quality with the aforementioned animal horror films. The visuals of the lions are really impressive, as are the shots of the daytime and nighttime wilderness. While the viewer has a hunch from the beginning how the film will eventually end, the film still managed to keep me in suspense almost the entire time. What bothered me about Beast was the behavior and (stupid) decisions of some of the characters. (2022-08-20)

Idris Elba and his daughters encounter a lion in the middle of the African wilderness. They fight it for an hour, supporting characters die, and then what you expect happens. Beast is a cookie-cutter thriller that impresses primarily because of its cinematography and long takes, but certainly not with the story, which doesn't stray off the beaten track for a second. It's not bad, but I can't really think of a reason to send anyone to see it. As a thriller, Beast doesn't have much to offer. (2022-08-17)

The suspense sets in early and effectively and the survival-drama potential is solid until the end. Good work with the setting and digital animals, with a likable acknowledgement of Jurassic Park’s inspiration (endangered characters trapped in a jeep). And Idris Elba fits in perfectly. The “broken family comes together in an extreme situation” ultra-cliché doesn’t matter; after all, this is a genre flick that solidly entertains with suspense in an exotic setting. But there are some occasional bits of nonsense. There aren’t many of them, but this high-powered and technically high-quality adventure would be better off without them. (2022-09-29)