ORPHAN: FIRST KILL: 3 STARSĪ scene from the film 'Orphan: First Kill.' (Courtesy Paramount) It has Elba and enough angry animal action to make its 90 minutes fly by in the swipe of a lion’s paw. “Beast” is not an ambitious film, but it doesn’t have to be. There is more to them than being scream queens on the Savannah. As the sisters, Halley and Jeffries bring a mix of steeliness and empathy.
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We’re paying top dollar to see Idris Elba punch a lion in the face (before you me, these are CGI creations, no animals were harmed in the making of this movie) and so he does in fine B movie style.īetween lion attacks, the silence is filled with a variety of dialogue that ranges from, “You stay right here,” to “We’ve got to get out of here.” Elba does bring some emotive qualities to this action character, while Copely lends the story some grit.
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Screenwriter Ryan Engle attempts to weave some father-daughter dynamics into the story, but we’re not here for the dysfunctional family stuff. The fight sequences in and around the Jeep the main cast spends most of the film in are claustrophobic and primal, with a real sense of danger.
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"And that is not a fight you are designed to win.”Īs a thriller “Beast” is so predictable the subtitle could have been called, “Maul’s Well That Ends Well.” Nonetheless, Icelandic director Kormákur does stage a few, straightforward action scenes in long takes that will make your blood pressure rise. “It’s the only law that matters.”Įlba hasn’t had great luck with felines on screen (see “Cats”), and faster than you can say, “Old Deuteronomy,” Samuels and his family are engaged in a horrifying fight for their lives. “It’s the law of the jungle,” says Battles. Soon, they meet the culprit, a wrathful male lion who regards all humans as enemies after his pride was wiped out by poachers. The trip is idyllic until they arrive at a village that has been devastated by a gruesome lion attack. In an attempt to reconnect with his kids, he arranges a holiday to a South African wildlife reserve, run by Battles, a childhood friend of his late wife.ĭaniels met his wife in South Africa, and, although he was separated from her when she passed, he wants his daughters to connect to their mother’s homeland. Nate Samuels, a recently widowed father of two teenage daughters, Meredith (Iyana Halley) and Norah (Leah Jeffries).
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At least no lion I’ve ever seen.”Įlba is Dr. “Multiple attacks, without eating its prey. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” says wildlife biologist Martin Battles (Sharlto Copely). “Beast,” a new nature-gone-wild flick starring Idris Elba and a big, angry CGI lion, and now playing in theatres, is a throwback to man versus beast movies like “Jaws” and “Anaconda.” This image released by Universal Pictures shows Leah Jeffries, clockwise from left, Idris Elba and (Iyana Halley in a scene from "Beast." (Lauren Mulligan/Universal Pictures via AP)