{"id":25205,"date":"2022-08-18T01:09:24","date_gmt":"2022-08-18T08:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=25205"},"modified":"2022-08-18T01:09:24","modified_gmt":"2022-08-18T08:09:24","slug":"beast-provides-a-good-time-for-genre-film-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=25205","title":{"rendered":"BEAST Provides a Good Time for Genre Film Fans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This feature from Universal Pictures will open\nexclusively in theaters on August 19th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Movie critics like myself see an awful lot of titles. So\nmany, that after a time one begins to see repetitive patterns and tropes that\ncan become more grating to a reviewer than to an average viewer who isn\u2019t\nnearly as obsessive about such matters. Beast<\/em> is a horror film about a\ngroup of characters who are stranded in the wild and pursued by a seemingly\nunstoppable creature. The story doesn\u2019t offer a lot of new twists or surprises.\nHowever, a strong and committed cast, visual flair and decent CGI-effects make\nenough of a difference to elevate the end product. It is no cinematic classic,\nbut the hard work results in a fun B-movie proving that having familiar plot\nelements doesn\u2019t necessarily guarantee failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Nate Samuels (Idris Elba) is a widowed M.D. trying to\nreconnect with his teenage daughters Meredith (Iyana Halley) and Norah (Leah\nSava). The trio set out on a trip to South Africa to visit the area where\nSamuels first met his wife and their mother. An old friend and wildlife\nbiologist Martin Battles (Sharlto Copley) picks them up and agrees to house the\nfamily during their stay. When Battles takes them on a safari through a remote\npart of a game reserve where he works, they suddenly come under siege by a\nferocious lion. Trapped, the group do all they can to survive not only the\nonslaught, but poachers as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a very simple survivalist story with the central\ncharacters out of their element and in danger from outside forces for the\nmajority of the running time. Of course, Samuels does have to deal with\nestrangement issues with his prickly children, which are heightened and brought\nto a head by the deadly situation. We\u2019ve seen this type of scenario in numerous\nfilms, but the cast does an excellent job of making the characters relatable\nand their motivations understandable. Elba is a very likable lead and his\nexchanges with co-star Copley are more naturalistic than other films of this\nilk, adding some believability to the proceedings early on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Still, this is a horror film, meaning that the leads do have\nto put themselves in harm’s way (sometimes unnecessarily so). Thankfully, the\ntime spent developing each one earlier does result in more viewer sympathy,\nallowing the viewer to forgive a few unusual calls. Samuels is a doctor who\nwants to help the wounded and these choices often place him in grave danger, but\nat least the story has provided some motivation for running into danger. The\nheightened fear on the part of the teens leads to some rash acts, but it also\nresults in a great pay-off during one fracas involving a tranquilizer dart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One of the movie\u2019s biggest highlights is the striking\nphotography and camerawork. Director\/producer Baltasar Korm\u00e1kur (Adrift,\nEverest<\/em>) uses long takes during the majority of action sequences. The\ncamera hovers around the characters, panning left and right and catching up\nwith them as they try to figure out what to do next while a vicious lion hides\nin the back of the frame. The technique does work, allowing the viewer to scan\nthe scenery and wait for the sudden appearance of the animal, adding\nsignificant tension to an otherwise standard jump scare scene. These shots are\ncleverly staged and work quite well. And the CGI lion also looks decent. While\nit doesn\u2019t look photorealistic in every shot, the effects are compelling enough\nto suspend disbelief through many moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Admittedly, the titular lion eventually begins to seem like\nan unstoppable monster instead of a living animal and predator. The story is\npredictable and viewers will have to forgive a lot of reckless and unsafe\nbehavior on display. Still, the characters are more affable than those found in\ntypical horror tales. The pacing is quick and the attack scenes are not only\nuniquely shot, but genuinely pulse-pounding. As such, the film ends up being a\nsurprisingly entertaining little thriller. In fact, this movie would make a\nfantastic double bill alongside the 2019 alligator film Crawl<\/em>, which\nfeels very similar in tone, execution and a sense of overall enjoyment. In the\nend, Beast<\/em> doesn\u2019t cut very deep, but it does provide enough thrills and\nchills to earn it a recommendation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This feature from Universal Pictures will open exclusively in theaters on August 19th. Movie critics like myself see an awful lot of titles. So many, that after a time one begins to see repetitive patterns and tropes that can become more grating to a reviewer than to an average viewer who isn\u2019t nearly as obsessive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":25210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[209,697,785,2402,2403,2404,2407,9319,9650,10051,12192,14615,16632,18178,18752,19403,22825,23562,23572],"class_list":["post-25205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-209","tag-action","tag-adventure","tag-beast","tag-beast-film-review","tag-beast-movie-review","tag-beast-review","tag-horror","tag-idris-elba","tag-iyana-halley","tag-leah-jeffries","tag-nature","tag-rampage","tag-sharlto-copley","tag-south-africa","tag-survivalist","tag-thriller","tag-universal","tag-universal-pictures-lion"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25205\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}