Notable Cast: Idris Elba, Leah Jeffries, Iyana Halley,
Sharlto Copley
After watching the initial trailer for Beast, I
immediately told my significant other “we have to see this film.” I pulled out
my phone and purchased tickets. She looked at me perplexingly. “Babe, Idris
Elba punches a goddamn lion!” I proclaimed. It’s not often that silly action
thrillers find their way to theaters anymore. With the relative death of
mid-tier cinema that aims for a specific demographic rather than the
four-quadrant blockbuster, a film like Beast would normally be poached
off to the highest bidder in streaming. Beast could have easily been the
next Amazon Prime, Netflix, or (shudder) Peacock exclusive.
It is a relative blessing that Universal did not seemingly
pitch Beast to that market. Even though this 90-minute nature run amok
is just that - with the bonus of having Idris Elba playing a sad dad thrust
into a life-or-death situation for him to prove that he’s not fuckin’ around
when it comes to his daughters’ safety, Beast is the kind of B-movie
elevated to cinematic A-level experience that benefited wholly from its
theatrical experience. Not to mention, it also manages to fulfill its marketing
destiny by having Elba punch its titular killer repeatedly in the head.