Beast Review: Idris Elba fights a lion in a short, effective creature feature

At the beginning of the man versus nature horror film animalone of the characters is wearing a faux vintage Jurassic Park T-Shirt – a choice that scans from one universal summer nature-from-hell creature feature to another in clear homage. animal even features the classic Jurassic film, a pair of siblings struggling to stay out of sight as a large animal circles the vehicle in which they are trapped. But despite the parallels, despite a surprising level of craftsmanship for a late August release in a summer where an actual Jurassic Park Sequel got a prime June slot, animal Ultimately, it doesn’t aspire to status as a Jurassic upstart or companion. The film is insured as it stakes out its own smaller territory.

animal‘s most notable departure from the Jura series is their intimacy; Only four members of the human cast are truly classified as significant. Nate Samuels (Idris Elba) is a doctor who returns to South Africa with his daughters Meredith (Iyana Halley) and Norah (Leah Jeffries) for a vacation after the death of the girls’ mother, who separated from Nate when she became ill . They date Uncle Martin (Sharlto Copley), though his title is honorific; He is a family friend who now works as an “anti-poacher” on an African reserve, protecting lions and other animals. Martin takes her to see some lions and visit a local village. They discover that the village has been torn apart and before long they are all being pursued by a single vengeful lion.

Yes, a vengeful lion. As far as Martin can tell, this lion “gone rogue” (his words) after the death of his pride. Typically, female lions do the hunting and males protect the pride, but this fearsome beast has evolved from protection to pure vengeance. (Call him Lion Neeson.) It’s very much in the tradition of another of Spielberg’s summer creature films: Like Jaw, animal heightens basic human fears of a sharp-toothed predator into something impossible, even ridiculous, but oddly plausible to most people.

It’s not necessarily enough to keep summoning Spielberg animal any favors. The film does not have the distinctive characters of Jawthe stunning effect of Jurassic Park, or the sequences with sweaty hands and clenched fists in both films. (Or by the way The Lost World.) At the same time, director Baltasar Kormákur, who has focused his American career on survival stories like Everest and drifting awayhas evidently taken pains to stage the lion charges, the pauses in between, and the exposition leading up to them.

Kormákur uses long takes — some flashy and possibly computer-assisted, but many that are more sober — to turn the audience into tourists. First we follow the Samuels children as they peer through Martin’s home and see the South African wilderness for the first time. Later, we’re stuck in their car or below while the lion circles, mops, and gnashes his teeth. The camera keeps catching the lion through windows or in the distance a second or two before the characters notice. Half the fun of the film is watching Kormákur move through his limited spaces. It’s an accomplished tight spot thriller.

The camerawork offers stronger human storytelling than the obligatory talk about Nate abandoning his children or how he’s stepping up in the midst of the crisis to protect them in a way he couldn’t protect from their mother’s death . These aren’t the most outrageous emotions ever seen in a 93 minute survival/creature thriller; Halley and Jeffries have a naturally awkward, believable relationship with their on-screen dad, Elba, and they’re all easy to like. Even more surprising, overactor extraordinaire Sharlto Copley delivers an understated, no-nonsense performance!

But it’s easy to wonder if producer Will Packer was involved in the film’s family dynamic. Packer produced comedies like what men want

and night school are sometimes clouded with teachable piety, and in this case the lessons are a little crisp. Meredith resents Nate because her mother died of cancer, which spurs him on to protect his remaining family at all costs. But should Nate, a doctor who should be familiar with extraordinary life-saving measures and the inevitability of losing some patients, really learn that it is his personal responsibility to fight death hand in hand? In this context, the tenacity of the standard survival film almost feels like denial, with Nate seeking redemption for something that was genuinely impossible to control. For a film that addresses the unfathomable wildness of nature, animal has a foolish, even simple-minded belief about what can keep chaos and murder at bay.

This is a minor complaint for a delightfully small film. For much of its lean running time animal does what it’s supposed to do, right down to the lively moments of silliness where it boldly goes over the top too short. (Yes, a human challenges a lion to a duel.) It even forms a random trilogy with two other recent August releases: prey, autumnand animal comprise a miniature revival of the stripped down, well-crafted thriller, more like summer movies The Shallows or don’t breathe (or, going further back, Break down or Red eye) as an epic-length wannabe blockbuster. At a time when Jurassic World is constantly trying to expand its reach, here’s another reminder of how much less can actually seem like more.

animal opens in cinemas on August 19th.