‘Beast’ Review: Idris Elba Shows a Berserk African Lion Who’s Boss

variety.com:

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticNo animals were harmed in the making of “Beast.” Frankly, it doesn’t look like any animals were even used in the making of “Beast,” but if you can get past the idea that the two-ton lion threatening Idris Elba and his family in the movie is a singularly frightening combination of ones and zeros, not killer instinct and claws, then “Beast” is a blast.A white-knuckle “When Animals Attack!” movie in the tradition of “Jaws” and “Anaconda,” this big-budget, big-screen release features A-list actors — OK, actor, singular — and a director who knows what he’s doing: Icelandic ace Baltasar Kormákur, who cut his teeth on such nightmare-inducing man-against-nature films as “Everest” and “Adrift.” Here, the threat is a very big, very angry African cat, understandably agitated after a group of poachers slaughtered his pride, that has decided to kill every human that crosses his path.

Seriously, the body count in this movie is off the charts. Enter Elba, who plays single dad Nate Samuels, a tough but emotionally wounded man looking to reconnect with his two daughters, Mere (Iyana Halley) and Norah (Leah Jeffries), by bringing them to the African savanna where he met their mother.

He imagines the trip as a bonding experience and perhaps a way to patch things up after a tough year. Co-writers Ryan Engle and Jaime Primak Sullivan’s otherwise lean, suspense-focused script spends a lot of energy on their backstory, fleshing out problems with the parents’ marriage, mom’s death by cancer and how the girls are coping with that tragedy.

Dad’s in the doghouse, but punching a killer lion in the kisser is a decent way to show how much he loves his girls.Not all lions are ferocious, Kormákur wants to make clear,.