I wasn’t quite sure where the movie Beast came from. Turns out it’s American, though it could just as easily have come from Britain or even South Africa.
The name stars are English action man Idris Elba playing sort of American and South African Sharlto Copley, playing himself as usual.
Photo: Screenshot
For added international flair, the director is Baltasar Kormakur from Iceland.
Now I have to tell you that Beast hasn’t been greeted with universal approval – not even from the demographic it was aimed at, the “not particularly choosey” set.
It has to be conceded that disbelief does have to be suspended throughout Beast – suspended from a great height from an ever-dwindling thread. But let’s see how we go.
Elba plays Nate, an American doctor, recently widowed. To get over the death of his photographer wife, he’s brought his two young daughters to her former African home, Mopone.
They’re being put up by old mate Martin –played by Copley.
Maybe Dad and the kids can patch up their differences with a trip around the African bush. Look, over there! A pride of lions nodding at them in a friendly fashion.
But there are other creatures out there, creatures far less friendly if you catch my drift.
As Martin drives the family party home, he suddenly stops for a neighbour who’s in a bad way. He’s been attacked by something big and dangerous.
With the warning of something “diabolic” ringing in their ears, they drive to a nearby village that seems to have had a similar problem. Everyone’s been slaughtered by something, shall we say, lion-like.
Well, lion expert Martin finds that hard to believe. Frankly taking the words out of our mouths.
On the way home, Martin gets out to follow a track or a spoor or whatever they call suspicious paw-prints in the veldt. I tend to agree with the two girls wondering what on earth he’s thinking.
Anyway, that leaves city slicker Nate and the two girls, waiting in a little truck for him to return. But wait – what’s that rustling noise in the long grass?
You guessed it, it’s a fast-moving, homicidal lion, driven mad, we’re told, by hatred for the animal poachers who killed his family.
And despite my sneering comments about how implausible it all is, there’s nothing like a huge, angry lion hurtling at you at top speed to focus the mind. It’s clear they’re going to need a bigger truck.
Now the fact is, just as the first Jaws movie stood and fell on how convincing the shark was, so Beast rests on how believable and scary the lion is.
In some ways, making a lion scary again is more of a challenge than a shark which has always been terrifying.
Over the years we’ve become used to seeing the lovable side of the King Of Beasts, courtesy of David Attenborough, not to mention The Lion King.
Well, I can tell you that this lion is pretty damn scary - particularly when it comes at you without warning, or from behind you, or right in your face.
I may pooh-pooh the idea of a film like this, but it didn’t stop me jumping at least three or four times before Beast was over.
Is it stupid? Of course it is, though as I say, the digital lion work is done very well and I couldn’t see the join. If it’s Andy Serkis in there, he’s certainly earned his pay.
Otherwise, the girls were appealing, Elba put up a reasonable challenge to the Rock in this sort of film, and the hour and a half went by completely painlessly. I’ve seen worse – and recently - is what I’m saying.
