Best known for his roles in television shows Luther and The Wire, Idris Elba hasn’t had a whole lot of luck of late in his attempts to establish himself—both as a critics’ favourite and a bankable star in mainstream cinema. Though it hasn’t been for lack of trying.
His two Western films last year, Concrete Cowboy and The Harder They Fall, were well-received, as was his performance as Bloodsport in The Suicide Squad. But none of them made a big enough dent in either the global box office or the annual awards circuit, with the Westerns, in particular, relegated to streaming platforms.
Elba’s Djinn-based film with veteran director George Miller and actor Tilda Swinton, Three Thousand Years of Longing, premiered at Cannes in May but hasn’t received the level of acclaim expected of a film that wants to compete at the next Oscars. Since the start of the pandemic, Elba’s only cinematic commercial success has been in a film where he hasn’t been the main draw — Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
Directed by action-thriller-survival movie specialist Baltasar Kormekur, Beast thus represents one last chance for Elba this year to graduate to someone who can guarantee people in movie halls.
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All for B-movie aesthetics
The poster for Beast suggests a bonkers, turn-your-brain-off battle between a man and a lion with Idris seemingly channelling his inner Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Thankfully, the final product is far more measured, while still retaining entertaining B-movie aesthetics in nearly every way imaginable.
The premise itself is fairly bare-bones, designed to zip by in a 93-minute production so you can get to the meat of the action. A widowed doctor named Nate travels with his two daughters, Meredith and Norah, to a private game reserve in South Africa. The reserve is run by a childhood friend and wildlife conservationist Martin, and residents of a nearby village to which the doctor’s wife belongs. A disaster strikes on their second day amid a safari through the reserve’s most remote areas, populated by lions and frequented by poachers.
On brand with most B-movies, the buildup to the main survivalist event is rushed and predictable. The cold open shows poachers setting traps and unloading their rifles before getting picked off one by one. We are also introduced to the family drama subplot between Nate and his daughters.
The big issue here is the writing, as several interesting ideas, meaningful conversations and interactions are underdeveloped or left as random references. It seems as if several dialogues that would have added more depth and colour to the characters were ruthlessly edited out for the leaner runtime.
Fortunately, pretty much every single character is played in a realistic manner, down to the underused poachers and the game reserve ranger Benji. The production is set and filmed largely in South Africa’s Limpopo and the Northern Cape provinces and hires a largely South African cast, giving it a refreshingly authentic feel often missing from many monster movies.
The daughters, Mare and Norah, are consistently annoying all the way through but believably so, thanks to the performances of newcomers Iyana Halley and Leah Sava Jeffries, who are made to take part in just the right amount of action while exuding a genuine sense of fear and panic. They also thoroughly vindicate Elba’s decision to not cast his daughter, Isan, in one of the roles after she failed to make the grade in her audition.
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Saved by the cast
Beast primarily belongs to the beautiful South African bush environment Sharlto Copley and Elba himself. They ensure that this B-movie does not require nearly as much suspension of disbelief as expected.
Copley is the go-to actor whenever an international film requires a white South African character. In a classic Copley fashion, he is fully in his element here as Uncle Martin, functioning as a great foil not only to Elba’s Dr Nate but also to the kids. We are treated to Martin and Elba interacting with lions as old friends and later as potential victims, with the duo making the most of passing off as a conservationist and a doctor when things go south.
Nikon product placement and South Africa tourism advertising aside, director Kormakur and cinematographer Philippe Rousselot ultimately elevate ‘Beast’ to a decent product. They and their team employ numerous lush tracking shots of the bush scenery and the central characters, retaining that sense of dread even when the story itself threatens to fizzle out.
All in all, the formulaic Beast is far from a game changer for survivalist cinema, but is frenetic, fun and worth your while on a Friday night.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)