"Beast," starring Idris Elba, hits theaters Aug. 19.

Beast takes pride in the cinematic pleasures of an animal attack

Idris Elba stars in this action thriller about an American family that runs afoul of a rogue lion in South Africa

The big cat shows astonishing tracking and survival instincts as he preys on a tourist, his two daughters and his friend

I squared up with “Beast” in full-on beast mode, meaning: pad, pen, popcorn and proportional expectations. Expectations somewhat exceeded! Turns out “B...

★★☆☆☆ Have you ever wondered who would win in a fight between Idris Elba and an enraged African lion? Well wonder no more, dear reader, as Icelandi...

Baltasar Kormákur's latest delivers on its “Idris Elba vs. a lion” premise, with the actor nicely elevating the sleek survival thriller.

The movie is an animal-goes-wild-tale in the tradition of “Jaws,” “Jurassic Park,” “Cujo,” and even parts of “The Revenant.”

review of the thriller Beast

Big Idris takes on an even bigger lion. Read the Empire review.

Sharlto Copley also stars in Baltasar Kormákur's nightmare safari in which a desperate father is driven to protect his daughters from a vengeful lion.

It’s impossible to argue that ‘Beast’ doesn’t live up to its promise, because the only promise was another piece of recyclable pop-culture imagery

Baltasar Kormákur pits man against beast, but fundamentally misunderstands how that formula works.

Idris Elba and his family are up against a man-eater in this efficient adventure story

Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Amy Nicholson, Andy Klein and Charles Solomon review this weekend’s new movie releases on streaming and on demand platfo...

Idris Elba plays a vacationing widower trying to protect his teenage girls from a rampaging lion in Baltasar Kormákur's diverting survival thriller.

Idris Elba is a father menaced by a killer lion in this capable but slight thriller.

A vengeance-driven lion terrorises a family – and demands some very big leaps in logical thinking – in this ludicrous drama

In this new film, a demonic lion gets a layered backstory like he’s Liam Neeson in “Taken.”

Idris Elba is a talented actor, but sadly ‘The Lion King’ is the more thrilling movie about lions.

Themes of exploitation and environmental degradation make this something more than a cheesy late August monster movie.

This will play better with an audience of rowdy genre movie lovers, the kind that once populated the grindhouses of Times Square and small town second-run th...

'Beast' turns a bad-dad redemption tale into a tense survivalist thriller. It also lets Idris Elba cold-cock the 'Cujo' of lions. Our review

Idris Elba is the beating heart of Baltasar Kormakur's lowkey survival thriller about a lion with a personal vendetta

The Idris Elba vs. lion movie Beast is incredibly silly, but it's not trying to be anything else.

Beast is, the blurb tells us, a ‘pulse-pounding thriller about a father and his daughters who find themselves hunted by a massive rogue lion intent on prov...

By the end of this savanna-set survival thriller I was practically asleep

Having the lead actor harp on the point that “lions don’t do this” would be risky, if the goal were to make this action-thriller literally believable.

There’s no better form of getting over a dead parent or spouse than combatting a killer animal. At least that’s the thesis of The Shallows, Crawl, and no...

While not reinventing the wheel in any sense, Beast is still a satisfying watch that has a welcome sense of life and intention behind it

The real star here is veteran cinematographer Philippe Rousselot, who lets the tense action play out in long takes

The man-vs.-nature thriller is packed with tense action scenes, which may be entertaining or unbearable depending on the viewer

Idris Elba fights a big cat in ’Beast,’ but we’d be lion if we said it was any good.

The survival thriller 'Beast' proudly owns what it is: Idris Elba as a widowed father battling a ticked-off computer-generated lion but not much else.

It's not as ambitious as 'Nope,' but 'Beast' — which pits Idris Elba against a rogue lion — is more fun than brainier summer blockbusters.

Idris Elba is quite compelling fighting both a lion and his own private demons.