Beast
United International Pictures (UIP) | Release Date: August 19, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 46 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
25
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Original-CinJohn KirkAug 18, 2022
If there’s one thing that Beast does well, it keeps its audience on the edge of their seats. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeAug 28, 2022
Mostly, it’s the fact that Kormákur makes some genuinely interesting choices. Rather than relying on staccato editing to build tension, he opts for long, fluid single shots. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinAug 25, 2022
Kormákur captures the action in a series of long, prowling, hold-your-breath takes, which both convey a vivid sense of place (the whole thing was shot on location in South Africa) and afford the viewer endless opportunities to anxiously scan the background for lion-shaped ripples in the long grass. Read full review
80
VarietyPeter DebrugeAug 18, 2022
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. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Sarah-Tai BlackAug 30, 2022
It’s an edge-of-your-seat crowd-pleaser that cares enough to develop its story world and characters just as well as its jump-scares and tension. Read full review
75
The Associated PressJake CoyleAug 18, 2022
It’s a movie well engineered as a late-summer diversion — a big cat movie for the dog days of August — that Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur (“Adrift,” “Everest”) insures stays well within the paths of man-against-nature films before it. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubLeigh MonsonAug 18, 2022
For a singularly outlandish and specific premise, this is a film that lets its audience experience the horror right along with the characters on screen. This is cinema as spectacle distilled down to its rawest form, where basic storytelling leads directly to visceral and emotional catharsis. Read full review
73
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiAug 18, 2022
Beast is a toothsome survival thriller, competently crafted and engagingly realized. There are far worse ways to spend 93 minutes in a movie theater, but audiences hankering for something with some actual substance may be left feeling hungry on mane. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriAug 19, 2022
Yes, it’s all illogical and silly: Lions don’t behave this way, and humans tend to be better at self-preservation than such movies would have us believe. But if everybody always acted correctly, we wouldn’t have movies like Beast, and that’d be no fun at all. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangAug 19, 2022
As his camera prowls the rugged terrain in precisely choreographed movements, director Baltasar Kormákur (working with cinematographer Philippe Rousselot) achieves a physical groundedness that makes even a digitally engineered predator seem palpably real. Read full review
68
PolygonJesse HassengerAug 23, 2022
It’s very much in the tradition of another Spielberg summer creature movie: Like Jaws, Beast heightens basic human fears about a sharp-toothed predator into something impossible, even ridiculous, yet weirdly plausible for most people. Read full review
67
The Film StageEthan VestbyAug 19, 2022
Where Beast falls a little short is its lacking a great overall set piece. Many effective, small jumpscares and Elba stridently defending his turf at the end (à la The Revenant‘s bear tussle) are undeniably rousing, but not exploring the vast sub-Saharan landscape seems a missed opportunity. Read full review
67
The PlaylistMarshall ShafferAug 18, 2022
It’s Kormákur’s directorial verve and vision that elevates Beast to something slightly more than just disposable entertainment. Perhaps one day, he’ll choose a studio blockbuster with a story more worthy of his talents. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comOdie HendersonAug 19, 2022
I suspect people want to be distracted by something that makes them stand up and cheer. “Beast” serves that purpose well-enough. Read full review
63
USA TodayBrian TruittAug 18, 2022
The over-the-top survival thriller definitely fits into the aesthetic of Hollywood’s August burn-off period, where bad (and so-bad-they’re-good) movies reign, though Elba’s charisma goes a long way in terms of enjoyability as do some hair-raising animal attacks. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 18, 2022
As with so much of this director’s work, I’m in the middle on Beast, though its efficient running time puts it a notch above. Like many of his previous films, this one has the advantage of modest scale and a passing interest in human resourcefulness under extreme duress. It has also the disadvantage of spectacle that is more technical than artistic. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyAug 18, 2022
To the movie’s credit, it tries to balance action and thrills with domestic conflict. Perhaps not surprisingly, the family stuff feels seriously subsidiary to the scary stuff. Beast is going through the motions with father-daughter tension. The humans-as-prey tension, that’s a different story. Read full review
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