beast | Under the sign of the lion ★★ ½

Passing through the African savannah, a widowed doctor and his two teenage daughters are chased by a bloodthirsty lion.

The human being has caused the animals to suffer so much that one of his representatives decides to take revenge, turning into a bloodthirsty beast. This postulate of predation is far from being new to the cinema, having given quality feature films (The Edge) and enjoyable B series (like Crawl). The important thing is to find a tone between the serious and the great nonsense, which you never manage to assume Beast.

The structure of the story does not lack pretension. Ryan Engle’s Formatted Script (rampage) speaks of this broken balance with nature, of poaching and of a family which seeks to rebuild itself after the death of the mother, with a lot of kitsch dreams and syrupy melodies. There is a desire to reconnect with his African roots and bury the hatchet once and for all.

These considerations are accompanied by violent and wild scenes, taking place in the dark or under a blazing sun. Moments of tension that, at best, come directly from the first Jurassic Park as a vehicle turns into a survival oasis. By trading originality for efficiency, the feature film entertains sparingly, seeming to constantly hold back. Before completely having fun during its particularly laughable and failed final as it contrasts with everything that has been proposed so far.

Aware that conventions rule the roost, Icelandic filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur — the outdoor disaster film specialist with Everest and Adrift — does the impossible to make them forget. His eventful staging multiplies the long sequence shots in order to feel a certain realism that promotes emotion and fear, using more than appropriately the superb photography of the renowned Philippe Rousselot (the bear).

Above all, it can count on spectacular special effects. The real hero of the adventure is this lion who tirelessly hunts his prey. Idris Elba and the rest of the cast only make up a simple figure next to the king of the jungle who monopolizes all eyes, yet never eclipsing the vacuity of this banal cinematographic exercise.

In theaters in the original English version and in the French version.

Thriller

Beast (The beast)

Baltasar Kormakur

With Idris Elba, Iyana Halley, Leah Sava.

1:33 a.m.

★★½

Indoors