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Beast is a simple, straightforward, no nonsense monster movie. It's lean, surprisingly claustrophobic, atmospheric, wonderfully acted, incredibly intense, and unpretentious about what it is.
A killer lion is on the loose in the South African savannah, and Idris Elba, his two daughters, and Sharlto Copley are stuck in the middle of it in a busted car. That's pretty much it. Some toss away motivation is given for the lion's rampage, but it isn't dwelled on, because it doesn't really matter. Of course some people have to leave the car for various reasons, which leads to the requisite scenes of slinking through the darkness while the sound of the lion pans through the surrounds, always sounding like it's right behind you.
Yes, the story is simple and predictable, but this isn't a lazy movie, and the filmmakers seem to be having fun playing with thriller genre conventions There aren't many jump scares, instead we're treated to multiple long, highly choreographed and sophisticated tracking shots, all of which are master classes in carefully revealing and hiding valuable information from the audience. The exploration of an eerie deserted village is a single, unbroken take of almost ten minutes that builds momentum and tension like a boulder running downhill. This is immediately followed by several other very long takes, ultimately ending with one hell of a 'BOO' reveal for the killer lion. It's impressive, especially when combined with a highly dynamic audio mix that sounds absolutely STELLAR. This is another entry in the recent crop of movies that have dialog and music mixed at a more modest and reasonable level than most, leaving tons of dynamic headroom for some immensely powerful gunshots, car crashes, and lion attacks. The high level of craftsmanship also extends to the visual effects work, which is almost flawless across the board. The digital lion(s) look very, very convincing, and only betray their artificiality with a few slightly dodgy animations here and there.
The acting isn't neglected either, and while a movie like this doesn't call for Oscar caliber performances, the filmmakers still assembled a solid team for their safari. Idris Elba again buries his English accent to portray Nate, a New York surgeon out of his element, confused, and terrified. Sharlto Copley's Martin keeps the accent, but is also low key and collected as a game warden who understands lions, but nevertheless is mystified by the one stalking them, at least until the lions motive is explained. The actresses playing Nate's in-danger daughters do well with the material they are given, but their characters are clearly second fiddle to the men.
So where does the movie misstep? Some of the geographic relationships don't make a lot of sense. A landmark that appears quite far away in a rifle scope is apparently just around the corner when a wounded person needs to be hauled back to the busted car. A vicious, feral, enormous lion can grab, swat and borderline maul our main characters, but they don't lose any limbs or suffer any real debilitating injuries (or at least ones that can't be shrugged off with the requisite 'field treatment' scene). Nate also has some borderline nightmare dreams of his dead wife that serve no purpose. And finally, we're supposed to believe that a city boy can single handedly outwit a lion that has already killed dozens of highly skilled hunters with little to no issue.... Sure, okay.
All things considered though, these missteps are small and don't diminish the white knuckle ride "Beast" will give you if you accept the movie on it's own terms.
A killer lion is on the loose in the South African savannah, and Idris Elba, his two daughters, and Sharlto Copley are stuck in the middle of it in a busted car. That's pretty much it. Some toss away motivation is given for the lion's rampage, but it isn't dwelled on, because it doesn't really matter. Of course some people have to leave the car for various reasons, which leads to the requisite scenes of slinking through the darkness while the sound of the lion pans through the surrounds, always sounding like it's right behind you.
Yes, the story is simple and predictable, but this isn't a lazy movie, and the filmmakers seem to be having fun playing with thriller genre conventions There aren't many jump scares, instead we're treated to multiple long, highly choreographed and sophisticated tracking shots, all of which are master classes in carefully revealing and hiding valuable information from the audience. The exploration of an eerie deserted village is a single, unbroken take of almost ten minutes that builds momentum and tension like a boulder running downhill. This is immediately followed by several other very long takes, ultimately ending with one hell of a 'BOO' reveal for the killer lion. It's impressive, especially when combined with a highly dynamic audio mix that sounds absolutely STELLAR. This is another entry in the recent crop of movies that have dialog and music mixed at a more modest and reasonable level than most, leaving tons of dynamic headroom for some immensely powerful gunshots, car crashes, and lion attacks. The high level of craftsmanship also extends to the visual effects work, which is almost flawless across the board. The digital lion(s) look very, very convincing, and only betray their artificiality with a few slightly dodgy animations here and there.
The acting isn't neglected either, and while a movie like this doesn't call for Oscar caliber performances, the filmmakers still assembled a solid team for their safari. Idris Elba again buries his English accent to portray Nate, a New York surgeon out of his element, confused, and terrified. Sharlto Copley's Martin keeps the accent, but is also low key and collected as a game warden who understands lions, but nevertheless is mystified by the one stalking them, at least until the lions motive is explained. The actresses playing Nate's in-danger daughters do well with the material they are given, but their characters are clearly second fiddle to the men.
So where does the movie misstep? Some of the geographic relationships don't make a lot of sense. A landmark that appears quite far away in a rifle scope is apparently just around the corner when a wounded person needs to be hauled back to the busted car. A vicious, feral, enormous lion can grab, swat and borderline maul our main characters, but they don't lose any limbs or suffer any real debilitating injuries (or at least ones that can't be shrugged off with the requisite 'field treatment' scene). Nate also has some borderline nightmare dreams of his dead wife that serve no purpose. And finally, we're supposed to believe that a city boy can single handedly outwit a lion that has already killed dozens of highly skilled hunters with little to no issue.... Sure, okay.
All things considered though, these missteps are small and don't diminish the white knuckle ride "Beast" will give you if you accept the movie on it's own terms.
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