If you look up growth in the dictionary, there should be a picture of Will Packer accompanying the definition. Like the more discussed Tyler Perry, Packer’s film career started with humble beginnings with smaller films that catered to the needs of neglected Black moviegoers and later developed a more diverse fanbase. Unlike Perry, Packer expanded his filmography beyond volumes of the same formulaic film and produced films in almost every genre.
His latest film, Beast, is his first foray into the action-adventure world. Starring Idris Elba, Beast tells the story of a widowed doctor who takes his daughters to a South African game reserve where they encounter a murderous lion who wants to make them his next victims.
The willingness to stretch oneself is forever admirable. Still, is Beast another sign of Packer’s continued growth or proof that the action-adventure genre is a waterfall he shouldn’t be chasing?
The premise screams The Ghost and the Darkness, with similarities such as the man-eating lion plot, the South African wilderness backdrop (The Ghost and the Darkness was set in Kenya but filmed in South Africa), and even a few near-identical scenes. However, Beast not only sets itself apart from the underrated 1996 film mentioned above but also stands alone as an overachieving, satisfying thriller thanks to intelligent direction, impressive cinematography, and standout acting performances.
Director Baltasar Kormákur is no stranger to the man vs. nature story, which shows and pays off in significant ways. He avoids overusing CGI to drum up scares and instead uses the camera and the environment to evoke suspense and uneasiness within the audience, as he did in 2015’s Everest.
He paces the film well with a blend of action involving Beast’s titular creature, fear-inducing stillness, and family-centered scenes that fortify the film’s theme of protecting the pride. The beauty of this is that Kormákur packs all of this into ninety-eight minutes and leaves little room for a dull moment.
The cinematography is even more impressive. Oscar-winning cinematographer and frequent Guy Ritchie collaborator Philippe Rousselot makes the audience the fifth member of Beast’s safari party with camera movements and positions that makes you feel the same panic and disorienting effects as the characters on the screen.
He shoots at angles that provide the viewer with the same visual information as the film’s characters, which creates the element of surprise that drives the movie and keeps you on the edge of your seat. He gets away from this late in the film, but for most of it, you can’t see what’s coming if the characters can’t see what’s coming.
On the acting side of things, it’s definitely the Idris Elba show as he continues to flex his action chops, but this is far from a solo act. Iyana Halley and Leah Sava Jeffries, Elba’s main supporting cast, have great chemistry with him as his daughters and each other as sisters.
Halley’s Meredith is the older and more rebellious of the two, and she plays this part with a level of bitterness and angst that makes Zora from Greenleaf look like a Cosby kid. She’ll certainly have you wishing you could go through the screen and use your preferred method of discipline to correct her.
Jeffries plays the younger daughter/sibling, Norah, and is the perfect contrast to her on-screen sister. She pulls double duty as the comic relief with well-timed one-liners and the heart of the movie, often acting as a voice of reason and comforter when things get tense with her father and sister.
With everything going in its favor, Beast’s script could not let it be great. You don’t expect too much of a story because you’re ultimately there to see people take on a lion, but goofs in writing are just too big to ignore.
First, it attempts to make the deceased ex-wife/mother a much larger part of the story than she should be. She’s a vital part of the story, but not enough to warrant the unnecessary dream sequences that do nothing for the film. The family/protect the pride motif is strong without randomly inserting her where she doesn’t belong.
Second, the final portion of the third act is underwhelming. Beast does a fantastic job taking us on a terrifying journey with the family as they battle the lion and somehow the final showdown boils down to a monument of mess chock full of things even the most suspended belief system could not tolerate.
Ultimately, Beast should have been just another average film at best for a movie with such a small budget ($36 million), a familiar story, and some suspect writing. However, a mix of skill and creativity from both the director and cinematographer and excellent performances from its cast pushes Beast ahead of bigger budgeted and more hyped summer films in terms of cinematic quality and pure entertainment.
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