Starring: Idris Elba, Sharlto Copley, Iyana Halley, Leah Jeffries
Distributor: Universal Pictures International
Runtime: 93 mins. Reviewed in Aug 2022
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc
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A doctor, with his two daughters, visits the South African nature reserve where he met his wife. What begins as a pleasing holiday, turns into a horror experience as the family have to use their wits to survive a rogue lion.
It seems wise to introduce a note of caution at the beginning of the review of Beast. If you feel nervy when the action on the screen is intense, as it is so often here, you may find many moments of this film too much. It is a compliment to the film that it has many tense and alarming moments. But, if feeling nervy is not a problem, then this is a strong drama for you.
The beast of the title is a fierce lion. The film opens, in fact, in a nature reserve in South Africa, a group of poachers capture and kill a pride of lions (for teeth and claws on the black market) except for the head of the pride, who escapes. Of course, the lion is enraged and turns on the poachers.
Then a pleasant transition. A doctor, Nate Samuels (Elba in a strong role) arrives at the reserve with his two young daughters, still grieving over the recent death of their mother from cancer, coming back to the region of South Africa where their mother came from. And they are met by Nate’s close friend, Martin (Copley) whose commission includes tracking poachers.
It continues pleasant, even a visit to an area set aside for another pride of lions, trained to be comfortable with human beings, Martin playfully wrestling with them. The older daughter, Meredith, wants to be a photographer like her mother and there are many happy photos.
With a title like Beast, we know that this idyllic trip cannot last. And, it doesn’t. The lion manifests itself, fierce, savage, somewhat ghostly covered in dust, initially attacking Martin.
What follows is a nightmare, a father trying to protect his daughters, the older daughter with accusatory memories against her father, the younger daughter needing protection, Martin stranded with his leg gashed. And the lion attacking the vehicle (which is a big part of the difficulty for a nervy audience, identifying with the family in the vehicle and the no-holds-barred, alarming close-up attack and attacks by the lion). A number of fatal things happen along the way, despite a rescue and treatment of Martin, the vehicle getting out of control and crashing, out of radio contact, the return of the poachers…
And, yet, the family uses ingenuity, despite fierce wounding by the lion, finding some temporary refuge in an abandoned school (which turns out to be the headquarters for the poachers, and, a return to the peaceful settlement of lions.
Most audiences, identifying with the doctor and his daughters, will be thinking all the time, what would I do, remain in the vehicle, venture out, risks and dangers, which makes the lion attacks all the more alarming.
Beast is directed by one of Iceland’s top directors, Baltasar Kormakur, who has made a number of strong dramas in his homeland as well is venturing out and directing American action films.
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