The survival thriller is one of the most popular sub-genres on the big screenbetting on a story full of adrenaline, in which the visual effects, the sound mixing and editing and the scenography lead to an immersive experience, one that makes you feel expected to the last for the life of its protagonists. This is what is sought with ‘The Beast’, the fourteenth feature film by Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur, which takes Idris Elba on a deadly safari deep into South Africa.
Based on an original idea by Jaime Primak Sullivan, the script written by Ryan Engle Bet on a threatening creature very different from the typical one, the much used shark, or on different types of reptiles: the lion. The popularly known as the king of the savannah, despite being one of the great predators of the African continent, has rarely been associated with that dangerous beast capable of destroying an entire village. The idea of turning the wild feline idolatrous into the story villain, who tries to follow the trail of the sharks in ’47 meters away ‘or’ Blue Hell ‘or the crocodile in’ Hell Under Water ‘, It’s a risky idea that appeals, because, in a way, it’s research that breaks down his affable image forged with Disney’s ‘The Lion King’.
This makes ‘The Beast’ an original proposition, especially because gives the animal a reason to become a bloodthirsty predator: poaching. In a country where rhino hunting increased by 14.5% in 2021, where 451 of these mammals were killed, lion hunting has become popular, thanks to the private breeding of these cats (something that Gilles de Maistre denounced in the wonderful ‘Mia and the white lion’), which has already been banned in the country ruled by Cyril Ramaphosa. Precisely, The proposal comes four years after the news that the lions devoured the hunters who intended to kill them.
That critical undertone of poaching gives the film a deeper edge than is typical for survival thrillers., here is a lion whose flock has been destroyed and who seeks revenge against the human being, to the disgrace of the protagonists, who are a family broken by the death of the mother of the clan, with a father disconnected from the reality of his teenage daughters. With a family drama in between, “The Beast” ends up looming closer to the reconciliation stories shown in the early episodes of “Jurassic Park” than with the survival touch of movies like “Jaws”.
It works thanks to Idris Elba and Sharlto Copley
Y it works thanks to the rhythm of the plot and the interpretation of Idris Elba, even if it is the South African Sharlto Copley who manages to steal some limelight. Now, although “The Beast” is betting on an innovative survival story in its style, it is not in its form. Finally, the ribbon is still a typical bet of the subgenre, which changes a shark for a lion and the ocean for the African savannah.
Secondly, the long-awaited confrontation between man and animal is slow in comingto this is added the fact that a series of events occur in the plot that cause the feeling that the script is not up to par and that, moreover, they follow the typical path of this type of production, which make the story predictable and with the only incentive that the story takes place on a safari as a different scenery than typical carnivorous aquatic animalswhich leaves the feeling that ‘The Beast’ could have gone further, both in its background showing a social problem such as poaching with a frantic action proposition with a commercial focus.
While it does not fail to produce the feeling that it could go further in every way, from its premise to the action, something that reminds us that it is very typical of Baltasar Kormákur’s cinema, capable of offering commercial stories that attract but do not end the show, as you might well see in ‘Everest’ or ‘Adrift’. ‘The Beast’ serves as commercial entertainment, thanks to Idris Elba’s performance and the fact that the predatory creature is as atypical in these propositions as a lion. Thanks also to its short duration, it manages to win over those followers of the subgenre of survival cinema.
Note: 6
The best: The first part knows how to completely immerse the audience in the story.
Worse: After the village scene, a series of actions are provoked which return to the repetitive tape until its final part.
Source: E Cartelera
