Film Review – Beast (2022)

Sometimes, in this crazy business we call show, you don’t need much to sell you on a film and its conceit. Some may have vast, expansive blurbs or synopses to lure us into the premise and what audiences can expect from a film, particularly those that want to keep as many secrets close to their chest as possible (see many a superhero film, for starters). Those that are of smaller, more independent leanings need those words to help put across their ideas and their concepts. For Beast, however, one of only a handful of releases making their mark in the deserted wasteland that is August 2022 at the multiplexes, it needs only a few words and one sentence: Idris Elba fights a lion. Sold. But with such a unique concept, saying it is one thing, pulling it off is quite another. All we will say right now is that it does exactly what it says on the tin.

Legitimately, we could just write that and it would be enough to sell you on seeing or not seeing the film but we won’t do that: we’ll strive to go a bit deeper, very much as the titular lion does on some of its prey through its short, sharp duration. Dr. Nate Samuels (Idris Elba) has his world turned upside down when his estranged wife dies after a long health battle. Hoping to get away for a much-needed break, he decides to take his daughters Meredith (Iyana Halley) and Norah (Leah Sava Jeffries) over to South Africa to strengthen his links with old friend Martin (Sharlto Copley) but also to the village where his wife grew up, hoping to have some reconnection to her through her passing. However, poachers have begun to ravage the land of its wildlife and, after one night of bloodshed, have royally annoyed the local lion pride with its male protector gunning for them and anyone else it crosses.

Director Baltasar Kormákur, a filmmaker who has always been intrigued by the limitless potential of the human condition and our spirits in the most extreme of circumstances – see Everest and Adrift – again finds himself on a similar ground here taking seemingly ordinary people and putting them in extraordinary surroundings to see just how far they would go to survive. There isn’t much in the way of subtlety or depth to what he and writers Jaime Primak Sullivan and Ryan Engle have concocted here, aside from a few intriguing glimpses into the Samuels’ family history but with something as slender a concept as this, they go all in on what is on that tin.

This is a lean, mean if ultimately forgettable romp through the jungle that has enough tense moments to not only keep the heartrate pumping through its short ninety-minute runtime but also keep the attention of those who are perhaps feeling underserved in this bleak month of the cinematic desert. Elba, forever watchable in all that he does, helps to keep the thin premise together (just) and is ably shadowed by Copley and youngsters Halley and Jeffries who provide solid support. What side of the fence you fall on with Beast is up for debate, but it’s hard to argue that it isn’t a bit of wild, unapologetically silly fun at the movies that will either keep you entertained or slay you through its ridiculousness.

★★ 1/2

Thriller | 2022 | Theatrical | 15 | Universal Pictures UK | Dir: Baltasar Kormákur | Idris Elba, Sharlto Copley, Iyana Halley, Leah Sava Jeffries

About the Author

Scott J. Davis

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Editor of The People's Movies for a year and a half, Scott has over 13 years of experience as a film writer and critic, writing for such sites as Digital Spy, Sci-Fi Now, Yahoo Movies UK, Flickering Myth, and more. He is also a retired interviewer and red carpet reporter for HeyUGuys since 2016, where he has attended hundreds of junkets and premieres, interviewing a range of talent from Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington, Jennifer Lawrence, Samuel L. Jackson, Guillermo del Toro, Martin Scorsese, Jim Carrey, Emily Blunt and many more.

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