Here's an enjoyable, tense genre pic that doesn't pretend to be anything more than you'd expect. Beast stars Idris Elba as a doctor trying to reconnect with his daughters on a trip to the African savannah. Potted backstory: he had split with his wife, then she got ill and died, now the kids carry some animosity towards Big Dris. The ever-so-subtle tagline, 'Fight For Family', makes it plain where we're headed. Sure, his kids are ratty with him but a LION WANTS TO KILL THEM ALL. The titular animal is rendered fairly realistically, in fact it's sometimes more believable than the humans. Here is the main issue with the film, but to be fair, it's not a huge problem. I understand we are asked, as an audience, to suspend disbelief in many films, and I'm generally in accord. Occasionally though, the decisions made by characters make an eyebrow raise, even a snort escape, and this happened a few times in Beast. It was just enough to take me out of the film, sadly.
The director, Icelandic, Baltasar Kormákur, has some pedigree with survival tales, having helmed films like Adrift, Everest and The Deep. He knows his onions in this genre and it's clear in the handheld, anxious camerawork, and the blocking of spaces - in one scene Nate (Dris) and his youngest daughter, Norah (a fantastic Leah Jeffries) are searching a building with an open door in the background, and every pan past said door raises the chills. With this kind of tightened, almost claustrophobic shooting, you're never quite sure where the threat is poised to pounce. Cinematographer, Phillipe Rousselot, also gives us some gorgeous South African vistas to marvel over.
Elba gives a fine display of stoic heroism, Sharlto Copley as his mate, Martin, local 'anti-poacher' is good value (if only to hear that cracking accent on film), and older daughter, Mer (Iyana Halley) is pretty good too. The pick of the performances though is Jeffries - she's quick-witted, emotive ("I have a rainbow of emotions available to me") but not too precocious. There are some character-scaffolding dream scenes that feel a bit dropped in, and the final inclusion of another lion pride draws a long metaphoric bow, but I jumped a few times, was edging to the lip of the seat at others, and that's really all you need from this kind of film. Not outstanding but worth a watch, nonetheless.
Beast opens on Aug 25th.
See also:
Another lion on the rampage film (and quite good too), The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), directed by Stephen Hopkins. And making a tangential link, Rousselot shot the fine Queen Margot (1994), directed by Patrice Chéreau.
SPOILERS IN POD!!
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