Movie Review: Beast

Throughout the fall I have seen many trailers for the movie Beast, so I finally decided to review
it. I watched it at home and overall I thought it was a good movie for what it was. Beast is a
newly released movie ( 2022) directed by Baltasar Kormákur. Baltasar Kormákur has directed
other movies such as 2 Guns, Everest, Adrift, Contraband. Beast is a thriller that is rated R. The
film follows the main character Dr. Nate Samuels ( Idris Elba) and his two daughters ( Leah
Jeffries and Lyana Halley) through the savanna as they are hunted by a rogue lion.
I believe the plot of the movie is a great idea. It is very suspenseful and a scary situation that
the characters are in. The movie starts out with poachers killing a pride of lions. They get the
whole pride except the male and it ends up killing the group of poachers. This is the beginning of
the problem. It then cuts to the family visiting a family friend ( Sharlto Copley) in Africa. They
then end up going on a safari and that’s when they encounter events that lead up to the lion.
Everything that could possibly go wrong goes wrong and the characters are stuck in a broken
down vehicle with the lion lurking. This sounds interesting but I believe there were some holes
in the movie. There were plenty of opportunities for this lion to just be killed, but apparently no
one in the movie can aim a gun. At one point in the movie there was a whole group of poachers
with guns and they couldn’t shoot the lion. Parts like this just make you shake your head.
There was some great character development throughout the film between Dr. Samuels and his
oldest daughter Meredith ( Lyana Halley). In the beginning Meredith hated her father for
divorcing their mother and after leaving her she died of cancer. This sparked tension between her
and her father throughout the movie. She always had something smart to say or just gave him
attitude. Even the scenes when their lives were at stake she still found a way to hate him. As they
went through the scarring experience they developed a better bond and ended up mending what
was broken.
The imagery and effects in the movie were great. Sometimes this can really save a movie and
make you forget about the bad stuff. Throughout the movie there were some beautiful scenes of
wildlife and the savanna. The gore in it looked very realistic. Not to mention the lion itself. I had
to look and see if they used a real lion for the movie, it looked so real. They didn’t use a real
lion, but they did bring one on set to study its behavior and movement. The effects were
probably the best part of this movie.
Overall I thought the movie was decent. I believe the realisticness brought the movie down.
The lion seemed indestructible when it was just a normal lion. I’d rate this movie a 7/10. If you
are looking for something to watch over the break, I’d recommend this movie to anyone who
enjoys thrillers and gore.