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Beast Movie Review

Beast is a 2022 survival thriller film directed by Baltasar Kormakur and starring Idris Elba and Sharlto Copley. It’s a fun flick, but one that gets increasingly ridiculous as it goes along.

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“Death came calling to my wife and daughters

and I wasn’t there to say no you can’t have them“

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A father and his two teenage daughters find themselves hunted by a massive rogue lion in this survival movie that is very entertaining, but ultimately it misses the mark due to that atrocious ending. Basically, they included a final confrontation between the protagonist and the lion where the man fought this beast one on one and managed to survive. Needless to say, it was ludicrous and this sequence tarnished the entire movie for me.

Before that terrible turn, Beast was pretty solid. There were plot holes and implausible scenarios running galore, but at least nothing too wild was going on. I liked that the family stayed in the car for the majority of time and that they did not make too many dumb decisions.

However, the choice to kill off the Copley character came as a big disappointment as it was the most predictable thing you could do in a movie like this and they went and did it anyway. It was great seeing this actor again as he has been absent for quite some time. He was very likable here.

As for the family, the girls are okay. One of the two is typically annoying and combative, but at least they were smarter than usual for a thriller movie. Idris Elba is the star of the film and he was excellent – very charismatic and highly sympathetic as usual. He is such a good actor that it’s a shame that he never receives better projects.

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Beast was actually filmed on location in South Africa and it shows – the landscapes are stunning and the cinematography overall is gorgeous. The African-inspired soundtrack is also quite good. The action is initially fine, but eventually it gets sillier and sillier to the point of becoming laughable. The element of the poachers was terrific, but the movie needed a more thorough exploration of these horrible people and what they are doing to the environment.