User reviews

I had high hopes for this film. The trailer seems interesting enough. Idris Elba and Sharlto Copley are always good in their roles and here it's no different. This movie just doesn't have it. I wanted to like it. I tried so hard to like it, but ultimately it doesn't do its job. It doesn't strike fear into the hearts of men or anyone else for that matter. It does, however get on your last nerve. All because of the kids in this movie. It's always the kids. The kids, as in other films, get in the way. They distract. They do stupid stuff. They say stupid stuff at tense moments thus shattering said tension. As already stated, not even Elba or Copley can spiff this baby up. It's a mess.

You won't care about the family relations in this film.

You'll even feel sorry for this Lion. He has his reasons for this rampage and they're pretty solid reasons. So, go lion!

This could've been so much better.

The bear attack in The Revenant.

The gators in Crawl.

I'm not even going to bring Jaws into this.

Even the chimpanzee in Nope.

Much more realistic scenes of animals attacking humans.

A movie like this strongly depends on two things, belief in the characters and their love and connection to each other. And true terror from the creature involved.

This movie evokes neither.

Go see Nope instead.

I know when the trailer came out, we were all thinking of the GOOD 90s flick with lions in it, but, sorry, this is not The Ghost and the Darkness.

While this isnt in the same league, I am going to be honest and say I really enjoyed it. Its pretty entertaining, decent cinematography, good background music, half way decent jumpscares and thrilling scenes, overall I got a good evening out of it.

Just leave your brains out the door, because you have Mr. Idris Elba try and literally punch a lion in this film.

So fair warning, its a popcorn film, but a decent one in that. 3.5/5.

Why isn't Idris Elba getting better roles? He's better than this nonsense!

I adore him and don't want to see him on crappy roles; I don't want to waste time watching him in these silly films.

Does anyone know why he's not getting better parts or a good star vehicle? I need to know!

Beast isn't highbrow cinema at all. The movie knows the kind of film it is and then goes and tries to elevate it by coming up with really solid technical proficiency and great acting. The movie is just 90 minutes long, so it knows that it shouldn't overstay its welcome. The ending might come off as a bit underwhelming thanks to its abrupt nature. However, the film is great entertainment and everybody should give it a chance when in the mood for a simple and straight-to-the-point kind of movie.

I wasn't sure what to expect going into this, but was pleasantly surprised - it is a well acted, beautifully shot and fast paced thriller!

The lion, while clearly CGI, looks good and is mostly believable, and the tension that came with its random appearances had everyone in the theatre I was in mesmerised. The viewer, like the characters, are trying to relate to one another while constantly thinking how they are going to escape the situation and what the lion might do next.

It is let down by several monumentally stupid decisions made by the main characters, including the lion. There's also some cliched elements in the story.

Well worth the watch despite its shortcomings.

The movie had some decent moments. Elba and Copley were nice to watch. Kinda reminded me off the oldschool (animalhuntsyou)action movies. Was kinda predictable but that doesnt bother me with this kind of film. I feel people are a but overreacting with their low scores and their 'the movie was so unrealistic' reviews. If the movie took the realistic route it would've been very boring.. Just take a snack and a drink, sit back and relax. An ideal 'chilltime' action flick!

6/10!

Beast doesn't really offer up many surprises. There's a rogue bloodthirsty lion chasing Idris Elba and his family through the wilds of South Africa. If that doesn't sound like your cup of tea then this film won't be for you, as there is no depth or complexity beyond this simple premise.

Simple is not meant as a slight however. Simple and effective I would say of this film. There is a decent amount of tension, an engaging performance from Elba, and some gorgeous shots of the African landscape. The pacing is pretty spot on too, which is a huge relief in a film like this, where there can be a tendency for things to drag.

One of my big pet peeves, and it's a common pitfall of this genre, is for characters to commit truly bonkers and frustrating acts which are very annoying to watch. "Stay in the car". Character proceeds to inexplicably leave the car for no reason etc etc. When a murderous lion is on a rampage there's no need to force tension through moronic character decisions, and there are too many examples of this in Beast. These cheap ways of creating tension do weaken the overall experience and make it hard to warm to the characters in some ways.

There are definitely better films out there in this genre, such as Crawl or The Shallows, but Beast does a pretty solid job of creating a tense experience, even if it never quite manages to truly excite.

Ridiculous, annoying actor/character actions will make you want to feed these people to the lion. Especially the older daughter. I've not been this annoyed by a character in a long time. I think we are supposed to feel for her plight and her fear but all I wanted to do was to make her shut up. Even before the lion came.

And then There are the contrivances that are necessary because had these characters had brains they wouldn't be in as much trouble. We are a step Ahead of every jump scare, every plot point, every action. It's as if the writer and director have never had an original thought.

I've never thought Cujo was a great movie but at least you wanted the people to survive.

I don't understand all these people complaining how lion is not doing this or that. I mean if the lion killed everyone first attempt movie would be 20 min tops. I love Wild animal movies and this was a good one, better than most. I agree with everyone that the oldest daughter is super annoying and stubborn but these type of movies always have one annoying character. I love Africa and specially lions. This is cool movie just don't be judgmental and don't expect realism, it's not supposed to be documentary.

Just watch it, cool nature and awesome lion. I don't know what else to write. I just have to fill up 600 characters.

Experiencing this movie would be a living hell for me. Give me a serial killer chasing me over this any day of the week. When your only escape from a lion is to wade deep into an African swamp that you've recently seen crocodiles and snakes plunge into, kill me now Mr Lion. This movie was a fun ride.

At first I was a little worried the children were going to annoy me. Their introductions were quite annoying. They seemed like bratty teenagers. But as the film went along they mellowed out and actually became a decent addition to the film.

The lion in this movie is constructed very much like any other horror movie villain. It can be heard from miles away when it needs to be, and yet it can also sneak up on people out of nowhere and just appear. It's an elite hunter when it needs to be, however when the main family are the ones in danger it becomes completely clueless and can't see/smell them from a metre above its head. It can be quite frustrating to watch at times.

The CGI on animals doesn't seem to have been perfected yet. I guess it's because we've all seen so many animals in our lives that we know exactly how they should look. The lions in this movie do look disappointingly fake though it has to be said.

'Beast' was a decent watch. It's a fairly safe film for the most part, but it doesn't overstay its welcome and it's reasonably entertaining for the majority of the 90 minutes. 7/10.

Other headlines I thought about using are "Rooting for the lion" and simply "Idiots." This movie is so dumb. And this is coming from someone who frequently enjoys dumb stuff. I'm the target audience for this type of movie. Yet I couldn't stop noticing how dumb everything was.

And there is a variety of dumb. The most obvious are the idiots that fill this movie. It's staggering the amount of times a character does the worst possible thing. Don't get me started on the forced family drama. It made me want the lion to eat them.

But the parts that annoyed me the most have to do with the lion. The people who made this movie either did zero research on lions, or didn't care and assumed the audience is stupid. They hope you don't know that cats can see in the dark. Or that cats can smell their prey. Or that cats have a keen sense of hearing.

(Infomercial voice) And that's not all! This lion can almost fit its entire head under a car, but doesn't use his arm to reach. Cats can reach at least half the length of their body with their arm. Also, this lion has a thousand chances for killshots and decides not to take them.

This is turning into a rant, but I can't help it. Cats are lethal predators. Even little house cats HUNT AND DESTROY without mercy. This lion has to be the worst lion in the history of lions. Apparently this lion's weakness is small knives. Ugh. That would be like fighting a linebacker with a needle.

Why not take advantage of the R-rating? This is the perfect kind of movie to go extra bloody and violent. But it's so tame. Why did they CG the humans in scenes with CG lions? It's very noticeable. Why is this listed as horror? It's not scary.

In conclusion... terrible movie. I left the theater thinking 3 stars, but after writing this review, it's a 2. (1 viewing, UltraScreen 8/23/2022)

Up to this day The Ghost and The Darkness is the top movie for me for lion survival movies. What made it so great was the story itself. 2 male lion made a bloodbath in their era.

There was no option for me to compare each other. This movie is not based on real story like The Ghost and The Darkness but still it is dull. I really like Idris Elba's acting in general but even he couldnt save it and in fact he kind of underplayed his role. CGI lion was like a kitten, that made me think all the budget went to Idris and they made the CGI lion whatever left from the budget.

Beast: I won't lionise Idris Elba but he's pretty nifty as Nate who fights a rogue lion. There is some family filler as well, he's a widower with two troubled teen daughters, the three of them visit a animal reserve in South Africa near where Nate's wife grew up. The lion goes rogue because poachers killed the rest of his pride. He displays the odd behaviour that has been recorded in only a few cases - attacking humans without provocation, killing them and not eating them afterwards. Some great scenes of fighting off a lion who tries to get into a crashed land rover, this is Jaws on land, existential terror as the lion tries to bite you through the windows. The lion takes his prey silently when he chooses but will get loudly in your face as well. The chase/battle continues outdoors and in the confines of a ruined church. Maybe the real beasts are the poachers though. I felt like cheering as the lion chomped on them. Not a classic but there are some good jump scares and the drama is maintained rising to tension at appropriate points. Directed by Baltasar Kormákur from a screenplay by Ryan Engle. 7/10.

Beast is a new survival thriller directed by Baltasar Kormákur, the director of 2 Guns and Everest.

The film is about Dr. Nate Daniels (Idris Elba), who, after the death of his ex-wife, takes his daughters to the South African savannah to the place where he met his ex. They are accompanied here by Nate's friend Martin Battles (Sharlto Copley), who often leads safaris for tourists.

During the safari, Martin learns that something is wrong and learns that a bloodthirsty lion has attacked the local village and killed most of the inhabitants. When they come into contact with this lion, they are quickly seen as his new prey. Now they must hide in the safari jeep and the lion survive its attacks until help arrives. Otherwise, they have to find a safe way on their own before coming face to face with the brutal lion.

With the 2015 film Everest, Baltasar Kormákur also tried to make a survival thriller about people who tried to reach the top with the cold temperatures around Mount Everest. He had made that film a bit too big with too long a running time, so you had to go through the preparations of the mountaineers for about the first half of the film before they even started climbing the mountain. He provided some long-winded moments in this film.

With his new film Beast, with a shorter running time, he presents a more exciting survival thriller about a family that has to survive in the warm savannah while they are constantly attacked by a lion. Survival thrillers about lions have become more popular since the film The Ghost and The Darkness, but with films such as Prey from 2016 or Rogue from 2020, due to lesser storylines or visual effects, they have always been difficult to succeed. Despite the fact that Beast has a simple story with the accompanying clichés from survival thrillers and also has nice, but not always the most believable visual effects, they still manage to provide an entertaining and exciting survival thriller.

Idris Elba manages to carry the film well as the main character, who tries to improve the bond with his estranged daughters after a tragic experience. Iyana Halley and Leah Jeffries also know how to portray the two daughters in an appropriate way. One does have more acting experience than the other, but this is also due to the standard story of the film. It is also nice to see the South African actor Sharlto Copley in this film as a South African safari guide, who knows the areas and animals well.

Beautifully shot in the real African savannah, the film shows beautiful images of these landscapes and of the different animal species that live here. This way the film can come across as if you are really on a safari in the African savannah and you will also learn the necessary information about these areas and animal species. The film also responds somewhat to the current problems of the African natural landscapes and the different animal species that live here. So they try to draw some attention to this.

I watched this in 4DX, with moving chairs and extra immersion techniques in the theater. It was fun and mindlessly entertaining. Good to watch on a summer weekend where there's nothing else to do. I'd watch it again on TV. Also, I feel Idris Elba starred in this movie purely to solidify his chances for Bond. He's made this movie well worth it.

I had to rewrite this because the first one was more of a rant with spoilers. You know those moments someone attempts to be a hero and somebody else goes "you're either really brave, or really stupid", well this is full of the latter. All the main actors keep making the most illogical decisions and the beast hunting them's actions also didn't make sense. Somebody said the writers think we're stupid. Idris Elba deserves better than this, even he couldn't save it. The script sucked, tries to hold emotional weight at times but it either falls flat or feels forced, especially from the stubborn daughter. Camera work sucked too, it looked like it was filmed by a regular guy walking around with a camera, not a professional especially when following in tight spaces, it was unstable. At times, it's like those videos of a school fight and the person recording keeps moving around and it's just commotion. It also starts out like a horror and is full of jump scares, still deciding if that's a good thing or not. I however loved that they cast locals for this, because that "African accent" Hollywood likes to use bugs me because I've never met anyone who speaks like that; like some director in the 80's decided this is how we sound and Hollywood still oblivious to it years later. So points for the accent. But the movie's still not worth the watch, it's just a family with really bad survival instincts and I haven't been this infuriated during a movie in recent memory. One of those movies that makes you wanna reach into the screen and knock some sense into the characters.

This movie kept my attention for the duration of the entire film. There were several moments when the audience was jump scared, me included. Suspend your disbelief and just enjoy.