BEAST

Director Kormákur tries to spice up the proceedings by utilising relatively long takes but they cannot make up for a bland, tension-free script.

Beast tries to be the same kind of lean, mean killing machine that the antagonist at the heart of its story is. During a handful of stretches it even is, as Idris Elba and his two daughters try to come up with ways to escape the range rover a bulky, angry lion is circling.

Alas there are many more instances where director Baltasar Kormákur fails to turn on the screws in such a manner that you fully feel backed in the same corner as the protagonists are. Kormákur tries to spice up the proceedings by utilising relatively long takes where the camera endlessly circles the characters but as the picture drags along this reaps fewer dividends with each subsequent scene.

But the main reason why Beast doesn’t quite work isn’t the direction. It’s a screenplay that has precious few surprises and even less palpable tension, while all of the actors struggle to breath live into the stale characters.

Some might find it a bit harsh that I call Beast a bad film. To those I’d say: take another good look at the final confrontation in the movie and tell me, hand on heart: do you have any emotional connection with it al all?

release: 2022

director: Baltasar Kormákur

starring: Idris Elba, Iyana Halley, Leah Sava Jeffries, Sharlto Copley