Ben Affleck has had a pretty interesting run lately, both in front of and behind the camera. His early directing work on Gone Baby Gone and The Town showed real instincts for gritty, character-driven stories and yet elsewhere, his personal life and experiences as Batman still leave the internet questioning his choices. Unfortunately, Animals, his latest go at the (often doomed) trifecta of writer, director and lead, is a little bit disappointing.

Affleck plays Mark Kimball, a lawyer running as an independent candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles. He’s funding the campaign himself, and behind the scenes, it’s not going as well as it appears to everyone else. When his son Denny goes missing on Halloween night, Mark and his wife Abigail (Kerry Washington) suddenly find themselves scrambling to pull together an enormous ransom with almost no time and plan. With the help of his campaign advisor Sam (Steven Yeun), they have a solution in Dayle Burton (Gillian Anderson), who immediately makes everything more interesting. Her character feels like a villain twist waiting to happen, as there’s a quietly unsettling edge to the character that keeps you on your toes.

Unfortunately, the film had other plans. It’s unfortunately the most effective moment of misdirection in a movie that otherwise struggles to get you invested.  The whole cast are honestly working harder than the material deserves, with Affleck and Washington doing their best with roles that the script never quite gives enough depth to.

On paper, the premise has real potential. A contained thriller about a political family whose secrets start unravelling at the worst possible moment. I think there’s probably a good film in there somewhere, but unfortunately, it never quite finds it. The biggest problem is that nothing ever really feels urgent. Despite the clock ticking and a child’s life supposedly on the line, the tension just never builds. It’s a film that tells you everything is serious without giving you a reason to believe what it’s saying. It’s a lot of close-ups of Ben Affleck talking, and normally that’s fine, but this film doesn’t do enough to justify any of it. Not the slow burn, not the drama, not perhaps even its own existence.

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Ironically, the film’s journey to screen was more interesting than the film itself. It was paused just before production with Affleck being concerned at one point that it was too similar to Apple TV’s Highest 2 Lowest that was being filmed at a similar time. At the time, it was Matt Damon in the lead role, with Jennifer Garner lined up to play his wife, but Damon had to step aside when production came around as he was busy with The Odyssey.

Washington came on board soon after once Affleck decided to play Mark himself, as he apparently didn’t want their real-life history working against the film. Washington ends up being one of the better things about what follows. On a separate note, it’s crazy to me that Affleck has now directed himself 5 times. I think I’m convinced that directing yourself in something never works, so perhaps I’m being biased, but nothing springs to mind in recent years that’s worked (although Google confirms I am wrong).

There are moments where Animals almost clicks, and the basics of a slow-burn marriage thriller with a kidnapping at its centre are all there. There just isn’t anything deeper, and unfortunately, it struggles with creating any genuine tension and depth. In the end, you’re left wondering what it was really trying to say, and whether it would have been made if Affleck wasn’t at the wheel. Don’t worry, though, Ben, I loved you as Batman.

★★

Streaming from October 9th on Netflix / Ben Affleck, Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun, Gillian Anderson / Dir: Ben Affleck / Netflix

About the Author

Danny Humby

Editor

Danny is a freelance Entertainment Journalist with a background spanning marketing, journalism and governance. He is currently a Trustee at Chichester Festival Theatre. He can be found under @popcornandpace on Instagram.

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