Beast (2022) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Baltasar Kormakur

Starring:  Idris Elba, Sharlto Copley, Leah Jeffries, Iyana Halley

"You're in his territory now," our hero's friend warns when up against the realization that a vengeful lion wants to eat any human it sees.   As Beast opens, the lion's pride is killed by poachers, but he survives with a bloodlust that's excessive even for a hungry lion.   Whether a lion can actually harbor such resentments is debatable, but it sure sounds plausible, especially when the words are spoken by Martin (Copley), the aforementioned friend named Martin who has spent his life in the wilderness studying lions.  Our hero is Nate (Elba), who grew up in South Africa but moved to the States and became a doctor.   He returns to South Africa on vacation in hopes of reconnecting with his two resentful daughters (Jeffries and Halley), who are angry with their father because he was separated from their mother when she died from cancer.

Nate finds he has to reconnect quickly once Martin escorts his friends into the mountains for a safari.  Martin has befriended a pride of lions he has been looking after for a while.   They trust him and will protect against outsiders.   This information will come in handy later on.   Things go from pleasant to nasty quickly, as Martin and Nate encounter a village with any remaining inhabitants torn to pieces by our lion.   The lion soon attacks Martin's truck, ramming itself into the vehicle and soon disabling it.  Again, I don't know if a lion can inflict such damage, but for the sake of the movie we play along. 

The rest of Beast involves Nate and his daughters (with Martin sidelined with a serious leg injury) trying to stay alive while the lion stays on the periphery waiting to strike.   Martin believes the lion's pride was killed by poachers and is now exacting revenge on any human it sees.   During Nate's ordeal, he will encounter real poachers who are so evil they make you sympathize with the lion.  Elba provides a sturdy center to what soon resembles a horror film, in which things jump out at you in the dark.  The characters are mostly thin, but the actors make the most of them.   The camera seems to stalk Nate as he makes his way through unfamiliar territory.   Instead of making Nate a sudden action hero who can do anything required, he tells Martin on the radio, "I don't know what to do,"   This is a refreshing sentiment.  Beast is skillfully made for what is essentially a slasher film with a lion doing the dirty work.

The lions are CGI to be sure and soon Nate is wrestling our lion to the death.   By this time, the bad lion has become the Michael Myers of lions.   He survives a fall, a jeep landing on him, being burned, an explosion, and being stabbed with a tranquilizer dart which keeps him out of commission for only a few minutes.   I expect to see a Beast 2 in which our lion friend returns to stalk Nate and his daughters again.