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.
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.