Beast

LSR is back again and today we’ll be reviewing Beast by director Baltasar Kormakur, featuring Eldris Elba, Sharlto Copley, Leah Jeffries, and Iyana Halley.

Released on the 19th of August 2022 by Universal Pictures. Beast promises to deliver an epic thriller when the king of the jungle reminds us once again why there can only be one apex predator in Africa.

We follow the events of a father and his two young daughters, who after the passing of their mother have left a rift between the family.

To mend this rift, Dr. Nate Samuels played by Idris Elba decides to take a trip down to Africa together with his two daughters Norah and Meredith played by Leah Jeffries and Iyana Halley.

Bringing them to their mother’s birthplace and village in hopes of softening up their hearts and also getting to learn a little more about their mother’s upbringing.

The first thing that caught my eye about Beast is the incredible camera work throughout the film, the African scenery blew my mind away if I’m being honest. Even though I’m South African myself, this film reminded me of the little things that I should appreciate more often than I do.

Director Baltasar Kormakur decides to use a lot of long extended scenes in the first act of the film which caught me off guard especially when considering that Beast is only ninety minutes long.

However, in my opinion, it was easier to bond with the characters and assisted in getting to understand who they are and what their characters are about.

As for the things that I didn’t like about the movie, I can only name two.

Norah and Meredith’s decision-making almost had me blowing a top, I mean there are moments in the film in which I just asked myself, do these kids have a death wish or something, has their loss of their mother also taken with them common sense?

For example, one of these outrageous moments comes when Meredith and her younger sister, decide to honk the horn of their SUV while there’s an out-of-control rogue lion out for their skins.

Honest to God, that had to be one of the dumbest choices I’ve ever seen on film.

And as for the second thing that rubbed me off the wrong way, that would have to be the CGI quality of the lions.

Some moments were magical, in your face gorgeous, while in other instances the 3D animation was badly rendered, in particular, close-up scenes of the lions were more obvious than others that CGI was in play.

In my opinion, nothing defeats a thriller movie more than knowing what’s standing in front of you isn’t real.

Idris Elba delivers a powerful performance alongside co-star Sharlto Copley with each emotion and frustration able to be felt through the screen.

Overall, Beast is a thriller that’s built upon emotions. Expect to see a lot of carnage and gory scenes as we’re dealing with the king of the jungle that has taken it upon itself to hunt down humans as poachers have done to them.

Let me know what your thoughts on Beast are in the comments section below.

Thanks for reading another review from, LSR.