Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur presents Beast, a tale of survival, grief, and family turmoil. A lion is out for revenge, and a family is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Will this suspense of this film measure up to its Man vs. Beast predecessors?
What’s it about?
Beast is a story about Dr. Nate Samuels (Idris Elba), who is trying to recover from the grief of losing his wife to cancer. He takes his daughters Mer (Iyana Halley) and Norah (Leah Sava Jeffries) to South Africa to visit his late wife’s village to reestablish their relationship. The healing process is challenging, as the older daughter, Mer, resents her father for the loss of her mother. Dr. Samuels was separated from his wife at the time of her death, and Mer blames him for her mother being alone.
They stay with Martin (Sharlto Copley), a college friend of Nate’s. Martin is a wildlife conservationist who works with a pride of lions he has raised since they were cubs. During their first day, Martin takes the Samuels on safari and to visit a pride of lions that Martin has protected since they were cubs.
Unfortunately for the Samuels, this was the worse day to explore the South African bush. A set of poachers murdered a different pride of lions the night before the safari. The lone survivor was the large male protector of the pride. With his pride wiped out, the surviving lion goes on a murderous rampage, killing many villagers in the area. Eventually, this lion and the safari cross paths. The lion is now set on killing Martin and the entire Samuels family. Now it is man versus beast, as Nate must protect his family and the lion must avenge his pride.
My Reaction
Beast delivers on everything you would want from a Man vs. Beast film. First, it does a great job with storytelling and character development. You care about the Samuels family and their inner turmoil in a relatively short time. You quickly believe Nate is doing everything he can to bring his family together while also processing his guilt.
You also understand why Mer processes her pain by directing it at her father. You empathize with young Norah, who just wants to keep the peace. You even relate to Martin and the conservation work that he is doing.
Unfortunately, some of this development happens in the most unnatural moments. Mer constantly lashing out at her father moments after a Lion tries to gnaw his face off is unnecessarily cruel. You also get glimpses of character backstory when suspense is at its peak. I could have committed more of my attention to the characters’ story if wasn’t so distracting from the immediate threat they faced.
The second trait of a successful Man vs. Beast film is an unbeatable creature. The best movies have animals that are invulnerable and unrelenting. Jaws and Cujo are particularly strong examples, as we see them more as monsters than animals. You see those movie monsters’ fingerprints on the lion in Beast, as it rips through humans regardless of their weapons or training.
Beast adds another level of complexity to the lion not seen in films Jaws, Cujo, or The Grey. In those films, the animal’s motivation was their natural instincts. The shark in Jaws and the wolves in The Grey hunted because it was their nature to hunt for sustenance. Cujo had rabies, but it was still operating on instinct. Beast’s lion attacks are premeditated revenge. The lion wants his pound of flesh from the humans that killed his pride. He doesn’t understand that there are good and bad humans, just that his family is gone, and humans are to blame.
It is also hard to miss the similarities between Nate and the lion. Both are responding to their guilt and failure.
In that way, Beast does a great job of setting the stage for the showdown. Your desire for the main characters to survive and your fear of the ruthless lion is the perfect recipe for suspense. It is also hard to miss the similarities between Nate and the lion. Both are responding to their guilt and failure. Nate failed his family; the lion failed to protect his pride. Nate is now doing what he can to protect what is left of his family, and the lion is doing what it must to avenge his pride.
The third important trait of a Man vs. Beast film is protecting the image of the beast. Filmmakers can do this by limiting the screen time of the monster. Jaws achieved this perfectly, with the shark appearing on screen sparingly. Kormákur shows his lion more than Spielberg shows his shark, probably because Kormákur wasn’t handcuffed by his budget. However, every time you see the lion, it is in quick flashes of horror. If the lion is not stalking his prey in the background, it is attacking in quick, ninja-like strikes from every angle. This makes the viewer feel disoriented, increasing the suspense of each scene.
Overall Rating
Besides a backstory for the lion, Beast doesn’t add much to the Man vs. Beast formula. However, it hits all the necessary Man vs. Beast story beats exceptionally well. It provides relatable characters with actual conflict, an animal that provides an overpowering presence, and tense, suspense-filled scenes of hunt and escape. Great acting by the cast and decision-making by director Kormákur elevate Beast from standard fare to something superb. Letting the movie breathe for an additional fifteen minutes could have put it over the top.
