Entertaining, no-frills action that simply thrills you for 90 minutes – nothing more, nothing less. That’s exactly what hardly exists these days. “Beast,” starring Idris Elba, is a welcome exception, now available on Amazon Prime Video.
One thing straight away: “Beast” is not an action thriller masterpiece that film fans will be talking about for many years to come. And he is by no means reinventing the wheel. Strictly speaking, the opposite is actually the case: “Beast” goes a little way back to the roots of simple genre rip-offs, in which it was called Man vs. Nature or Man vs. Monster – and that was based on a long, complicated exposition Avoid branching off content and unnecessary subplots. You hardly see anything like that today. And if so, then more from the direct-to-video corner.
“Beast” runs a crisp 93 minutes (including credits) and is therefore a real blessing compared to too many current Hollywood films that run 130 minutes or longer – and often could easily do with half an hour less. Director Baltasar Kormákur (“Contraband”, “Everest”) doesn’t spend long on slowing down statements about how they sometimes make films more epic, but often not only longer but also more boring. Once “Beast” gets going, it’s hard to stop. Unfortunately, hardly anyone was convinced of this in the cinema, but from now on you can catch up on the breathless fight for survival with a subscription on Amazon Prime Video:
“Beast” on Amazon Prime Video*
The content can be briefly summarized: Dr. Nate Daniels (Idris Elba) returns to South Africa, where he met his recently deceased wife. He now wants to get closer to his estranged daughters Meredith (Iyana Halley) and Norah (Leah Jeffries) in the nature reserve run by his old friend Martin (Sharlto Copley). But before he knows it, he and his family find themselves in a bloodthirsty duel between ruthless poachers and a vengeful lion.
A wild, emotional ride
Do you like to pick films and their logic apart while looking at their individual parts? Then you should enjoy “Beast” with caution. Because if you’re honest, everything the characters do doesn’t always make sense. But well, it’s not as if people don’t act irrationally in stressful situations in real life.
But if the film picks you up in the first act and you buy Idris Elba (“Thor 1-3”), Sharlto Copley (“District 9”) and the two young actresses Iyana Halley and Leah Jeffreis their roles and, above all, their broken relationships, you will you no longer notice the deductions in the B grade as soon as the trip into the wilderness turns into a merciless fight for life and death.
Despite weaknesses in the script, “Beast” manages to carry its audience along to such an extent that there is no time to worry about potential gaps in logic. Director Baltasar Kormákur succeeds in building up an incredible intensity within a very short space of time and a tension that never threatens to break. Maybe you would occasionally act differently than the characters in the film, and there is still room for improvement here and there in the special effects – but all of that can be forgiven. At its core, “Beast” is a drama about a family with whom you simply fear for their lives. And as such the film works brilliantly.
This makes “Beast” the animal horror counterpart to the disaster film “Greenland” with Gerard Butler. It also had to make do with a comparatively low budget and largely had to do without the large pictures that XXL blockbusters like “2012” or “San Andreas” use to attract the masses to the cinemas. With a shift from effects spectacle to drama, “Greenland” not only sets itself apart from the Goliath competition – it is also simply the better film. Because even if big pictures amaze us, big feelings are a completely different matter.
“Beast” is a wonderfully entertaining mixture of family drama and brain-out-of-animal terror that may not leave a lasting impression in your memory, but in its one and a half hour running time there is not a moment of boredom.
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*The link to the Amazon offer is a so-called affiliate link. If you purchase through this link, we will receive a commission. This has no effect on the price. This is an updated republication of an article that previously appeared on FILMSTARTS.
2024-03-11 13:01:31
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