Greetings again from the darkness. Movies featuring man versus beast date back to at least 1933 with KING KONG, and have proven to be fan favorites many times since, likely peaking with JAWS in 1975. Of course, this sub-genre has also produced too many flops to count as low-budget filmmakers have attempted to capitalize with the cheap-thrills approach to entertainment. Director Baltasar Kormakur has previously flashed his skill with nature thrillers ADRIFT (2018) and EVEREST (2015), and here he's working from a script and story by Ryan Engle (NON-STOP, 2014) and Jaime Premak Sullivan (BREAKING IN, 2018). It's tempting to call this one 'Cujo as a lion', as a tip of the cap to the 1983 adaptation of Stephen King's horror-novel, but there are many reasons not to do so.

Idris Elba plays Dr Nate Samuels, a man taking his daughters to the African savannah area where he met their mother many years prior. The mom recently passed away from the effects of cancer, and since mom and dad had separated the year before, there is tension between dad and daughters, especially the eldest, Meredith ("call me Mere"), who holds him responsible for not being there for mom. Mere is played by Iyana Halley, and younger sister Norah is played by Leah Jeffries. We quickly learn these are smart girls, spoiled by privilege and dumbfounded at the lack of Wi-Fi and cell phone coverage miles from nowhere.

Nate's old buddy Martin (Sharlto Copley) manages the protection of local wildlife and will act as their guide. One of the first sequences we see is poachers wiping out a pride of lions. However, they missed the alpha male and he is now out for revenge against all poachers ... only he, like so many these days, can't tell the difference between the good guys and the bad guys. This puts Nate and the girls in danger, especially after Martin is seriously injured. Director Kormakur pulls the old "Jaws" trick by keeping the lion out of sight for a while, building suspense. Once he begins attacking, the lion is in full view for much of the film. Of course, lions are wild animals and cannot be trained to act, so what we really see are computer-generated lions with terrific growling sound effects.

The lion attacks are ferocious and do provide a certain level of fun tension with numerous jump-scares, and many will find this sufficient for movie entertainment. However, for those who want a bit more, the plot, dialogue and character decisions are often absurd and ludicrous - generating laughter where they shouldn't. Despite much of this being computer-generated, the work of Oscar winning cinematographer Phillippe Rousselot (A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT, 1992) should be noted ... it looks and feels like we are in the wild bush. The four main actors are fine, although Mr. Elba's contemplative physician transforming into quasi-superhero is a bit difficult to take. Mere's donning a JURASSIC PARK t-shirt is a nice try, but this one has more in common with Liam Neeson fighting off wolves in THE GREY (2017).

Opens in theaters on August 19, 2022.

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.

"Beast" for the most part is "Cujo." But with a CGI lion in place of that creepy St Bernard dog. Still, the movie looked good. Especially with Idris Elba at the helm.

The effects are really the best part of the movie. CGI can go either way, but the lions do look really good. Probably helped by alot of the movie taking place at night. Which always improves the seemlessnese of CGI.

The story however is pretty straight forward, and what really let's the movie down is the characters. Like alot of these survival movies, alot of what the characters do in thier dangerous situation is just pure stupid. Making alot of noise when there's a killer lion around, going off by yourself when it's out there looking for you, and walking through waste high water when there are lions and crocodiles and everything everywhere are the best examples.