It’s nighttime. The carcass of a zebra is hanging by a tree in the middle of a South African nature preserve. A few lions cautiously approach the tasty bait. Just then, a team of poachers jump out of the bushes and gun them down.
Easy as pie, right? Wrong. One of the lions is not like the others. He rips apart the remaining poachers and caps off the opening scene by leaping out of the dark at us.
After this brief and bloody opening scene, we watch as Nate Samuels (Idris Elba) and his two daughters, Mere (Iyana Halley) and Norah (Leah Jefferies) arrive in South Africa for what they hope will be a vacation to remember – be careful what you wish for.
They meet up with Nate’s old friend Martin (Sharlto Copley), who heads up the very same nature preserve that doubled as a poachers’ graveyard in that rip-roaring opening scene. More importantly, though, way back when, Martin had the pleasure of introducing Mere and Leah’s mom to their father.
After settling into Martin’s messy, yet homey, nature preserve pad, we find out that Nate’s wife, and the girls’ mother, Amahle (Naledi Mogadime) has recently died of cancer. Clearly, then, this trip is about more than staring wide-eyed at giraffes and lions in their natural habitat. The trip is Nate’s attempt at easing his daughters’ pain while also bringing them closer to their mother by visiting the place where she was born and came of age.
That plan hits its first tree during dinner, when, out of nowhere, Mere scolds her father for not being there for his family in their time of need. Turns out, shortly before she was diagnosed with cancer, Nate and Amahle divorced. As their mother’s health declined, and Mere and Norah’s pain became unbearable, Nate was, at best, a sometimes shoulder to cry on – at worst, a ghost in his own family.
Later on, after the girls have gone to bed, and the whiskey flows more freely, Nate confesses to Martin that he’s still guilt-ridden over not being there for his girls. Foreshadowing the nightmare to come, Nate speaks of cancer as if it were a beast, who slipped into his home late at night and ravaged his defenseless family while they slept.
Next day, Martin drives the Samuels deeper into the nature preserve to get some close up looks at the wildlife. Bad idea. During their drive, they spot a villager, down on his knees, in the middle of the road. When Martin and Nate get a closer look, they see that the man has been savagely attacked by a lion.
Things get scarier when the gang visits a nearby village where all of its inhabitants lie dead – each one ripped apart by the same out of control beast. From there, things naturally get worse as Martin ventures further on foot to find out what’s what and the Samuels end up becoming the beast’s next preferred item on the menu.
Compact and occasionally thrilling, “Beast” is nothing new. It’s “Jaws” in the Jungle; “Dead Calm” on dry land; or, most obviously, “Jurassic Park” minus the dinosaurs. That, in one early scene, Mere is wearing a Jurassic Park T-Shirt shows us that the filmmakers have a sense of humour.
That said, “Beast” has a few ideas rattling around in its brain. The beast is Amehla’s cancer and Nates’ guilt all wrapped up in one. The furry bastard that won’t f*** off is Nate’s last chance to re-establish himself as his family’s protector and, by doing so, regain his daughters’ trust. Also, by encountering this beast, together, Nate and the girls re-experience the trauma of Amehla’s death – this time as a unified whole. This fractured family has a second chance. Nate better make it count.
Idris Elba is solid. He’s got the muscles to kick furry ass and the acting chops to get us feeling for his character. Iyana and Leah hold their own with ease and the rest of the cast does a fine job, too. Credit Idris and the girls, they did enough to get me a little choked up as the final moments faded from the screen. Though, these days, it doesn’t take much.
Visually, “Beast” employs a lot of long takes that are fun to watch. For me, longer takes, particularly the traveling ones so prevalent in “Beast”, ground you more in the moment and allow you to soak up the look and feel of a place more so than the usual shot-reverse-shot hokey-pokey. They especially prove effective in the ravaged village scene. There, the camera moves fast, swishing here and there, as the tension rises and Nate panics as it quickly dawns on him that one of his daughter’s may have just fallen victim to the beast.
As it is all too often in Hollywood movies, the real treat, though, are the special effects. Those anonymous men and women who toil away in the dark, burning their eyes out staring at high definition monitors for months on end, have outdone themselves, here. The lion looks real to life and, more importantly, capable of ripping apart any human unfortunate enough to get in its way.
Essentially a B movie with a little thematic heft, some emotional resonance and dazzling special effects, “Beast” is worth a look – just don’t look it right in the eyes. Seriously, it’ll jump right out of the screen at you.
