'Beast' roars for your attention | movie review

In Beast, a doctor and his two young daughters find themselves at the wrong end of a lion’s taste for vengeance as they become trapped in the South African bush

Over the running time of Beast, wildlife biologist and animal sanctuary protector Martin (Sharlto Copley) remarks a few times that what is happening isn’t normal. That being a lion on a path of vengeance through the South African grasslands after his pride is killed by a group of poachers. Most lions will kill to eat and generally avoid humans. This one is doing the exact opposite, leaving bodies behind in his wake. Why? The movie doesn’t exactly tell us. Rather than wrapping some wild exposition about the lion being infected by radioactive waste dumped by a nearby nuclear plant, Beast spares us from the unnecessary details and delivers what we want: Man vs animal. In that way, at its core, it’s a perfect B-movie.

However, it’s more than that largely thanks to director Baltasar Kormákur and actor Idris Elba who elevate the schlocky script into a surprisingly effective survival thriller. The details we do get are that Elba’s Dr. Nate Samuels recently lost his wife who he had separated shortly before. In the wake of her death, he brings his young daughters, teenager Meredith (Iyana Halley) and preteen Norah (Leah Sava Jeffries), to her home village in South Africa where Martin still works. After a magical encounter with a pride of lions that Martin has worked with since their youth, they come upon an abandoned village that looks to be on the wrong end of a vicious lion attack. From there, the movie roars to life.

Thanks to Kormákur’s sense for suspense, Beast rarely gives you a minute to breathe. Through a series of single-shot long takes, the movie builds suspense until inevitably the antagonistic lion roars onto the screen. And despite it being done in complete CGI, the titular beast feels dangerous. In the movie’s first long shot, the camera follows the group as they arrive at a nearby village. As we sweep around following different characters, the discovery of multiple dead bodies sets our senses ablaze. When Norah temporarily goes missing, we follow Nate through a labyrinth of branches that further disorients our senses. The shot finally cuts when we find Norah who has discovered another body. And the games begin.

Each ensuing encounter with the lion feels as impactful as the last. Elba’s bonafide movie star glow holds every frame and makes you believe the stakes—even when the beast isn’t on screen. The movie is careful not to overuse its villain, but there’s always a sense that it’s lurking within reach. That’s what makes Beast worth its lean 93 minute runtime. Even if the material isn’t Oscar-worthy, every actor and filmmaker is performing like it is.

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Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter here. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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Karl Delossantos

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Hey, I'm Karl, founder and film critic at Smash Cut. I started Smash Cut in 2014 to share my love of movies and give a perspective I haven't yet seen represented. I'm also an editor at The New York Times, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.