Since I watched the trailer of this movie, I have been waiting and dying to watch this movie because of Idris Elba, one of my favorite actors, who was the lead actor in the movie. Honestly, I was excited and optimistic about the movie but at the end of the movie, what I was expecting, I didn't get. I was disappointed with the movie and wished Idris didn't approve to be among the cast in the movie. So I will just go straight to the point here and talk about all the flaws I noticed in the movie.
Beast, is a movie that was released on the 19th of August 2022 with Universal Pictures as its distributor. This movie is an American survival thriller that was directed by Baltasar Kormákur which was based on a story by Jaime Primak Sullivan. This movie starred Idris Elba, Leah Sava Jeffries, Sharlto Copley, and Iyana Halley.
The movie started with a man who travels to South Africa with his two daughters for a vacation with a family friend. Recently widowed Dr. Nate and his two daughters, Norah and Meredith arrived at Mopani Reserve where their old-time family friend who the girls referred to as uncle Martin welcomed them and took them to his home to get settled in and also to catch up on old times. So after a good night's sleep, the next morning uncle Martin takes Nate and his daughters deep into the animal reserve to see the wildlife and give them a tour around.
Showing them around, he takes them to see a local lion pride and then later discovered that all the people of a nearby community were all dead, murdered by a rogue lion that his pride was recently murdered by illegal hunters. With the lion being angry with the loss of his pride, he goes rogue and begins stalking, hunting, and killing any humans he could find in the reserve for revenge. Unfortunately, Nate, his daughters, and Uncle Martin were caught in the middle deep in the reserve. Will they all survive and will the rogue lion win?
My Opinion About The Movie And Recommendations.
I was disappointed after watching this movie even with how thrilling the teaser was, my excitement about the movie was dashed. Then I wished Idris Elba hadn't acted in this movie, the producers of the movie would have used another actor, not Idris. The first flaw I found in this movie is the fact that the producers, directors, scriptwriters, and those in charge of the Cinematography messed up the movie, making it bland and unrealistic.
If you have watched "I Was Prey”, a TV show by the producers of Discovery channel, you would agree with me that this movie was like a caricature of the TV shows. When I watched a few episodes of "I was Prey" on TV, it was like I was brought face to face with how brutal and unforgiving wild animals are when they attack and they are quick to rip their prey to shreds. The movie wasn't well portrayed in that aspect. Some scenes about the rogue lion were unrealistic and amateur.
Also, the scene where the people in the nearby community were murdered by the rogue lion was not well shot. The killing images were wrong on every level. It was like it was a giant Lycan that did the killings. For example, in the community killing scene where a bull was found with a woman mutilated and dead. The cut on the bull's neck was so deep, one would wonder if the lion killed with a machete. Lions Kill with their Mouth, they have sharp canines that were designed to tear through flesh. Lions and every other big cat kill through the throat regardless of who their Prey is which is always portrayed on TV channels like NatGeo Wild.
The unrealistic scenes in the movie brought me to how the plot or script was badly written. The writers are not experienced with how wild animals behave or their killing/hunting style. The storyline had some holes, like the dream of Nate about his dead wife. I find the scenes irrelevant and should have been replaced with well-written scenes about how the survival instincts of the characters are not to be stupid. Also, when Uncle Martin left Nate and his daughter unharmed and wandered off deep into the reserve, why leave the people you care about in danger to wander off and become a hero? How would a Lion survive a terrible fall from a cliff and not break a limb or two? How will a Lion survive a ghastly fire burn? Some many holes I wouldn't want to mention here to avoid a lengthy post.
Let's talk about the actors and the camera work. The actors' clothing was not selected according to the said weather of the Game reserve. Nate and his daughters were dressed like they were at a ski resort or on a cold weathered resort, but complained about it being hot and wished they had a fan that squirts out water. Idris did his best to make the movie watchable and I will say it was because of him I finished watching the movie. His daughters were the most annoying characters, amateur acting, so disobedient, their screams and too much talking and whining just made the movie kind of rowdy for me. It is one of those movies that makes you wanna reach into the screen in anger and just slap some sense into the characters.
Now the camera work was badly done too, it was like it was filmed by someone walking around with a camera, not a professional, especially during the tight spaces scenes, it was unstable and there was no 360° angle shot that would have portrayed the lion more fierce and realistic. Even Lion king (2019) was more realistic regardless that most of the scenes were shot in the studio. My only interest in this movie is all the pictures Nate's dead wife took. They are all beautiful and I love them.
To rate this movie, it is 3 out of 10 and 1.5 stars. If you are a lover of survival thrillers, I wouldn't urge you to watch it, but you should watch it if you are a fan of Idris Elba.
All images above are from the movie screenshots
Poster image source
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