Beast: Jäger ohne Gnade

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.

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)

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 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.

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!