Beast

Nate Samuels, a doctor who has just lost his wife, takes his two daughters to a South African game reserve and runs into a lion whose pride was wiped out by poachers. The animal now hunts people. Baltasar Kormákur built the film on long takes, with the camera moving in and out of the vehicle without cutting, so there is no edit for the audience to escape into. Idris Elba leads, with Sharlto Copley, Iyana Halley and Leah Sava Jeffries. Shooting began on 1 June 2021 and ran ten weeks across Cape Town and Limpopo. Cinematographer Philippe Rousselot drew particular praise and Steven Price wrote the score. Universal released it on 19 August 2022. Against a 36 million dollar budget it took 59.1 million worldwide. Rotten Tomatoes has 68 percent of 208 reviews positive and Metacritic sits at 54. Most critics liked the look and the tension, and some found the premise ridiculous. Who it is for: viewers who want a short, direct, single-idea survival thriller. Who it is not for: anyone who cannot stop seeing that the lion is digital. In several shots it shows.