BEAST : Tuesday 13th September 2022.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'BEAST' this week at my local multiplex, and this is an American survival thriller film Directed by Baltasar Kormakur whose prior Directorial outings take in the likes of his big screen debut 'Go LazyTown' in 1996 then 'A Little Trip to Heaven' in 2005, 'Inhale' in 2010, 'Contraband' in 2012, '2 Guns' in 2013, 'Everest' in 2015 and 'Adrift' in 2018. The film was released in the US in mid-August, here in Australia three weeks ago now, has so far taken US$54M from its US$36M production budget and has generated mixed or average Reviews.

The films opens up with a bunch of guys pulling up in their all terrain vehicles in the dead of night, guns raised and traipsing through the undergrowth so not to disturb their quarry, which it is revealed is a pride of lions. The lions are feeding on a snared animal, so are distracted enough to be not to worried about the approaching gunmen, who all begin firing their rifles and slaughtering the pride. However, one lion has escaped and run into the surrounding undergrowth, and is pursued by two of the poachers, leaving the others to bundle the dead lions into the back of one of their trailers. The two poachers who went in search of the lion, pretty soon end up very dead at the claws of the now rogue big cat, as do a handful of other poachers in the party. 

We then cut to a light aircraft seen flying over the Mopani Reserve in South Africa, in which are being carried Dr. Nate Samuels (Idris Elba) and his two young daughters Meredith (Iyana Halley) and Norah (Sava Jeffries) who are on a holiday with the hope that the father can reconnect with his daughters following the recent death of Nate's wife and the mother of their two girls, from cancer. Nate reunites with his long term friend Martin Battles (Sharlto Copley) - a biologist and manager of the Mopani Reserve, and who initially introduced Nate to his (future) wife. Martin takes Nate and the girls to the small village where Nate's wife was born and raised. The next morning, Martin, Nate and the girls drive out on a tour of the reserve's restricted areas. Martin shows them a local lion pride and plays with two mature lions that he raised from young cubs and then returned to the wild. He notices that one of the lioness' has a bloodied paw and suspects a bullet wound from a poacher. 

At a close by Tsonga village, Martin discovers most of the population is dead having been clawed and bitten to death. He surmises that a rogue lion is responsible, and rushes back to his 4WD truck to radio in and report the finding. On the drive back to their base camp, they encounter an injured Tsonga man on the road. Nate goes to his aid but is unable to save him, while Martin tracks the lion. Martin is subsequently mauled by the lion, and takes shelter under a tree beside a lake, but is suffering from a brutal leg injury and is losing a lot of blood. The lion then ambushes Nate, who takes cover in the 4WD with his two girls. Meredith jumps into the drivers seat and speeds away, but crashes into a tree above a rocky outcrop thereby stranding them there, with a vehicle that now won't start. 

Martin is able to barely communicate with Nate via a walkie-talkie, as he is slipping in and out of consciousness because of his excessive blood loss, but nonetheless warns him to stay away, saying the lion is using Martin as bait to coax the others out. As the radio is out of range to contact help, Nate assembles a tranquiliser rifle. He confronts the lion, hoping to subdue it with a dart for a few hours - just long enough to recover Martin and make the trek back to civilisation. The lion attacks Nate who takes shelter underneath the 4WD and repeatedly kicks the lion in the head, with little or no effect. 

Meredith meanwhile takes advantage of the distraction to locate and save Martin. Norah stabs the lion with a tranquiliser dart after it knocks the tranq gun from Nate’s hands, causing the lion to retreat. Meredith brings Martin back to the car and using the First Aid kit Nate treats his leg wound and stitches him up having stemmed the bleeding. As nighttime closes in, Martin who has come round, believes that the lion went rogue after poachers killed its pride. 

Soon after, headlights appear behind them and the poachers arrive in search of the lion. Nate pleads with them to take them to safety and they initially agree to transport the group to the village in exchange for US$5,000 which Nate agrees to pay. However, tensions soon arise after the poachers spot Martin in the back of the 4WD, and as a firm anti-poacher and having shot dead three of their kind, they are none too impressed and all bets are off. The lion then attacks and scatters the poachers, killing or badly maiming most of them. Nate manoeuvres his way past the lion and locates the poacher with the truck keys, who is in a bad way. He also grabs the poachers rifle. Back at the 4WD, Martin holds the lion off long enough to allow the sisters to escape. The lion charges at the car causing it to topple off the rocky outcrop and fall into a ravine, taking the lion with it. The lion quickly recovers itself and limps off while Martin is sat upright with the 4WD now resting on its side as petrol rains down on him. The lion returns and with its head now inside the missing windscreen Martin sacrifices himself by igniting his Zippo lighter so setting off an explosion from the leaking petrol, severely burning the lion. Nate starts the poachers truck and races away with Meredith and Norah, but notices that Meredith has sustained a deep laceration to her side.

They pull up at an abandoned schoolhouse as Nate is fearful that he going to run out of fuel. Upon gaining entry they see that the poachers used the old school building as their base. Nate treats Meredith's wound with gauze he found in an old First Aid kit and a bottle of alcohol to wash his hands and clean the wound. The lion appears and stalks the girls, but Nate returns and scares it off by firing a few rounds at it from the gun he retrieved from the dying poacher. 

Locking his daughters inside a room, Nate promises to return after subduing the lion, armed only with a knife. Luring it out into the open, Nate attracts the local lion pride which they had seen the day before and which Martin helped raise. In the ensuing struggle, the lion mauls Nate several times slashing his skin with its sharp claws and biting him fiercely, nearly killing him, until the two Alpha males of the pride intervene and kill the rogue lion. A Mopani worker arrives and saves Nate as he loses consciousness. 

Coming round in a hospital bed sometime later, a heavily bandaged up yet recovering battle weary Nate tells his daughters he loves them. Sometime later, the three return to the reserve, this time as a unified family, and recreate the photo Nate's late wife took of herself standing under her favourite tree.

'Beast' is an OK movie, it's not great, but entertaining enough to warrant you spending 93 minutes sitting on the edge of your seat and biting your nails as an apex predatory lion stalks Idris Elba and Co. The cinematography is first rate, the special effects of the rampaging lion are well executed, the story is grounded in a sense of reality, and the four lead roles are convincing enough in their performances to keep it relatable and believable. That said, the film is fairly predictable nonetheless, the characters all make some lousy questionable decisions, and going in you know exactly what you're gonna get, and in that respect this film doesn't disappoint. 

'Beast' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-