A recently widowed man and his two teenage daughters travel to a game reserve in South Africa. However, their journey of healing soon turns into a fight for survival when a bloodthirsty lion starts to stalk them.
- Released:
- Runtime: 120 minutes
- Genre: Drama, Horror, Thrillers
- Stars: Idris Elba, Leah Jeffries, Sharlto Copley, Iyana Halley, Riley Keough, Melanie Jarnson, Amara Miller, Dorian Hedgewood, Anzor Alem, Damon Burtley, Hudson Anne-Black, Billy Gallagher, Kate Grisley, Robby MacIsaac, Travis Lemrick, Anzor Alem, Martin Munro, Liyabuya Gongo, Daniel Hadebe, Thapelo Sebogodi, Chris Langan, Mduduzi Mavimbela, Chris Gxalaba, Kazi Khuboni, Chris Langa
- Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Comments
- al_sweets - 1 July 2024
Let down by the acting
There are some good moments in this film as it manages to build tension with single long takes and it certainly holds up also in terms of CGI.
It's let down in terms of an exciting plotline although generally delivered what I expected from its public reception.
Its biggest downfall which seems a general consensus across the user reviews is the acting, mainly from the two children. I felt constantly distracted by their inauthentic reactions to situations and their terrible scripts which withdrew me from the tension and excitement within the film. Their lines are cheesy and unrealistic and their behaviours do not match the situation they find themselves in, which essentially ruins the escapism of a film. - shrkbnz - 29 May 2024
Not Worth Your time
Not only do the characters act like moron, (the kids are especially annoying) but apparently no one thought that doing a little research on lions and lion behavior would've been helpful to this movie.
At the end we have more idiotic decisions by the humans and actions by the lion that defy any sense of reality. A rogue lion who attacks the main character over and over but only seems to bite his shirt. A lion would literally go for the throat and rip it out of squeeze til the prey suffocates. But instead we have Idris Alba throwing punches at the lion. It is beyond absurd and incredibly disappointing, to put it mildly. - mattias-35620 - 13 March 2024
Decent enough one time watch!
The two daughters got on my nerves!!!
Saying "i will be 10 minutes" and they disrupt him after 4 was one of many stupid stuff.. There, angry man syndrome complaining out of the way..
Now that we got the angry lion who holds a grudge, goes on a rampage and slaughters all. Its entertaining enough for the moment. Not a movie i will watch again anytime soon. Got some plotholes here and there but its all in good suspense. The effects are good and idris is always great.
Lower your expectations and enjoy the ride. Just dont go in expecting award winning stuff. A decent movie none the less. And sometimes during the ride you actually route for the lion. People are stupid. - maartinvanblerk - 16 December 2023
This is one of the worst!!!
Firstly, people are actually complementing the CGI?!? Like what? They put bare minimum effort into the CGI. It's truly quite painful to look at.
Secondly, what is this acting ? Idris Alba and Copley is usually really good. And even in this completely disaster of a movie, those two are the only decent thing. And barely decent at that. The two daughters are completely terrible. They should not be acting. Or need to go through acting school again. Because oh my goodness, those two girls were completely unbearable. The annoying mess that are them trying act is mind boggling annoying and totally breaks any glimpse that this could've been a decent movie. I can't even with the logic of the movie itself but especially the two girls who just does whatever they think they should. It's soooo bad.
Lastly, for someone who's actually from South Africa, Limpopo even, and grew up there, all I can say is bull. That lion would've had them all dead within minutes. If lions were like that that is.
I feel like this was failed attempt of recreating The Ghost and The Darkness. Which came out almost 30 years ago. And was a complete masterpiece. - coltonalbrittonfelts - 31 December 2022
Leah Jeffries ... The Directors failed you
Leah Jeffries acting was not very good... she was just very nonchalant in intense moments and it totally ruined the movie. She's young and I wish her the best, but the directors failed her and the audience by approving some of those scenes. Both Idris and Sharlto we're great in their respective roles. Iyana Halley was great and shows great promise for her age. Even the story had promise but there were so many missteps when it came to writing. CGI was good. The ending was not. I'm surprised this movie is rated so high on rotten tomatoes. At the end of the day, it was not very scary as the trailers built it up to be and for that reason, plus the bad acting and poor writing. Just pass. Not a lot of fun watching. - Nitro85 - 16 December 2022
Not bad, but way to unbelievable...
Im not that sort of person, that can just switch their brain off...
Every human in this movie is dumb as f... And so is the poor lion.
A ranger that knows theres a maneater around, goes in the underbrush alone, without backup or a radio connection to a ranger station or something, he sees 2 salt water crokodiles slide into the water, next thing he does is... he goes into the water... In reality, the crocks would have a free meal there and than...
The porchers are as stupid as him, they hunt a maneater, at night and follow him into the bushes, no traps, theyre not hunting him from the safety of their vehicles, theyre not doing something remotely intelligent. Of course they all get killed.
The poor old lion is also not in the best shape, except when the plot needs him to be of course. Otherwise he seems to be blind, deaf, stupid and lost his sense of smell... Cause 2 times he cant spot the human being 6 feet above him, or 2 feet beneath him... Poor old lion, at least they gave him plot armor till the end, cause he got soaked in gasoline and set on fire and doesnt have a scratch.
Enough spoilers already, lets just mention a bit forced diversity. Of course our protagonist and his daughters are poc. The ranger that could have been a good character, but unfortunately is a white guy, gets "slightly damaged" right in the beginning so he cant take away the role of the hero. At least he gets a decent death.
The boss of the bad, evil porchers, of course is a white guy, i think in this day and age i dont need to mention that, cause you know, white men are evil...
Last thing i need to say, Idris Elba has lost both of his arms and a leg in the man vs beast fight against the lion... And died within minutes of bleeding to death... Leaving behind 2 orphan daughters... No wait... he got this plot armor on, so he survives with a couple of minor scratches....
The end. - ginge_mickey - 2 December 2022
Could've been Jaws meets Die Hard
Despite the promise of an interesting concept, this movie could've been so much more.
Beast could've been Jaws meets Die Hard but in the end is let down by a weak script, unrealistic action, poor special effects and sadly some bad acting too.
The set up of the bereaved father feels lazy, it's never really explored beyond some contempt for the father and isn't concluded satisfactorily at all.
This is the least of the films worries but it also paints an unfair portrayal of lions and the ability of the lion fluctuating depending on what the script demands at the time.
It isn't a bad movie, and it's short runtime is favourable but it is still a disappointing watch. - quikpencil - 14 November 2022
Dear God...The Goofy & the Dorkness
Was looking forward to seeing this. What a mess. I expect people to make stupid moves in dramatic movies because you know...."movies" and being transported to other worlds and plots, places and characters being out of being out of their elements, fright, and general thriller scriptwriting but Holly Jesus....swimming at night in croc infested swamps, general running ( just because) around in silly unrealistic panic, lions with amazing sense of smell gets 1 foot away from a wounded human and NOT sense/react to that standing right above him (I've watch lions on night hunts in Kenya...it's stunning to watch them smell wounded prey through thick brush). Over all I can watch almost anything and suspend disbelief along along with everyone else who doesn't know a lion from a shag carpet, but Jez Louise! Bad dialog, set up situations and acting. I give it 4 because my wife liked it. Lame excuse...but it's all I got. - furnacefuneral - 4 November 2022
If you want a terrifying lion movie go watch ghost in the darkness
This movie was sooooo bad. I'll give this a 2 instead of a 1 because the cgi was good and I like the actor that plays uncle Martin. The guy from elysium and district 9. This movie was god awful though I had to stop watching it after 45 minutes. It was so bad I actually stopped watching it AFTER the action started because of the movie-killing stereotypical kuncklehead decision making by characters. I knew in my heart when the girl ran out of the car, it was going to be an infuriating waste of time. Annoying child actors who indeed cant act. The sound editing is garbage, the music was so distracting and annoying, Idris Elba seemed disinterested. Just a lot of tacky and bad writing. Please people dont waste your time.
