Man vs. Beast | Entertainment

‘Beast’

93 minutes | Rated R

Idris Elba stars in the new film “Beast.” The film begins with some poachers in Africa tracking a pride of lions. They manage to kill the entire pride with the exception of one male. We then meet Dr. Nate Samuels, played by Elba, and his teenage daughters, Norah and Meredith, played by Leah Jeffries and Iyana Halley. 

Nate’s wife, a photographer,  has recently died leading to some tension between father and daughters. The family arrives in Africa where they meet up with Nate’s old friend, Martin, portrayed by Sharlto Copely. Martin is the manager of the local wildlife preserve, he is the one who introduced Nate to his future wife.

Martin allows the family to stay with him, and is soon called in to investigate the situation  in a nearby village where several villagers are dead following an attack by a rogue lion. Nate and the girls tag along for the adventure. It seems as if the rogue lion is following the poachers to get revenge for their slaughter of his pride. Martin is soon injured during another attack by the rogue lion. Nate grabs a tranquilizer gun and attempts to get Marin and the girls back to safety. While attempting to get to safety, their vehicle is damaged leaving Nate to fend off the lion and save his friends.

“Beast” is, more or less, a decent movie. The acting is good, and the story is decent. Somehow the film fails to do much to keep the audience interested. It is not exactly a bad movie, but there is nothing special about it. It is just sort of mediocre.

“Beast” is rated R for violence, bloody imagery, and language. There is nothing too graphic here and the film should be fine for most teen viewers. I rate “Beast two-and-a-half out of five tranquilizer darts for a thoroughly average and not particularly memorable movie.