BEAST (2022)

BEAST is an intense adventure movie about a widowed American doctor visiting his late wife’s African homeland and trying to protect his two daughters from a rampaging lion. BEAST is a thrilling, well-acted movie with a strong morally uplifting, pro-family worldview, but it’s rated R for intense bloody violence and has some foul language.

The movie opens at night in Africa with some poachers killing a pride of lions in an animal preserve, but the big male lion escapes. The poachers go after him, but he turns the tables on some of them. One man accidentally steps into a rope snare the poachers set for the lion. As he dangles from the nearby tree, the lion’s head lunges toward the camera.

Cut to the next day. Widowed American doctor, Nate Samuels, and his two daughters, Meredith and Norah, arrive at the preserve to visit his friend, a ranger at the preserve named Martin. The area is also the homeland of Nate’s late wife. So, it’s a chance for their daughters to visit the area where their mother grew up before she met Nate.

It becomes clear that there’s some tension between Nate and the older daughter, Meredith, who prefers to be called Mer. Before her mother was diagnosed with cancer, the parents had separated. So, Mer believes Nate abandoned them just when they needed him the most. Later that night, in private, Nate admits to Martin that he blames himself for his wife’s death. Since he’s a medical doctor, he feels he should have been able to tell that something was wrong physically with his wife.

The next day, Martin takes the family on a tour of the preserve. They see giraffes, antelope, rhinos, and elephants. They also visit a nearby pride of lions. Martin raised the two young male lions of the pride when they were cubs before releasing them in the wild. The males recognize Martin and visit with him while Nate and his daughters stand nearby with amazement. Martin notices that one of the female lions has a wounded paw. Martin tells his assistant, a fellow named Banji, to talk to the local vet in the area about it.

Martin next takes Nate and his daughters to visit a local village in the area. Strangely, no one seems to be around. Martin and Nate order Norah and Mer to stay near the jeep so they can check village living quarters. They find that the rampaging lion from the night before has killed and mutilated several villagers, plus one of their cattle.

The area isn’t conducive for Martin’s walkie talkies to be able to reach local authorities. So, Martin starts driving the jeep back to his outpost.

On the way back, they run into a villager seriously wounded by the lion. They stop so Nate can minister to the man’s wounds, but they hear the lion nearby. So, Martin takes his rifle to hunt the lion. He comes across a small swampy pond with an outcrop and a tree on it.

Back at the jeep, the villager dies. Then, Nate and his daughters hear a shot ring out. Nate leaves the jeep to call out to Martin. However, the lion chases him back to the jeep, where he tries to kill Nate, Norah and Mer.

Can Nate fend off the lion? Is Martin still alive?

BEAST tells a rather simple, straightforward adventure story. The story is a primal one of dark forces threatening a family. The CGI the filmmakers use to show the lion attacks may not be convincing to all viewers. However, BEAST is a thrilling, intense, well-acted movie with strong jeopardy. The lion attacks will scare younger viewers as well as older viewers, but all viewers will find it easy to root for the father and his two children.

Happily, BEAST has a strong morally uplifting, pro-family worldview. The father is a strong, positive character who risks his life for his two daughters. However, BEAST is rated R for intense, bloody violence. It also has some foul language. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.