Why So Blu?

Beast – Collector’s Edition (Blu-ray Review)

Despite opening to solid reviews, Beast couldn’t go beast-mode at the box office. A decent take wasn’t enough to cover budget, but perhaps the well-liked Idris Elba film can find a life and following in the post-theater afterlife of streaming, digital and physical media. Speaking of physical media, the film was released on Blu-ray on October 11th. The release features a 7.1 surround track and is loaded with a nice array of extras. You’ll also get the DVD version and a digital copy included. If you need to pick it up or are curious after this review, don’t hesitate to click the paid Amazon Associates review that shows up once you scroll down to the bottom after the Summary section.

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Film

Recently widowed Dr. Nate Daniels and his two teenage daughters travel to a South African game reserve managed by Martin Battles, an old family friend and wildlife biologist. However, what begins as a journey of healing soon turns into a fearsome fight for survival when a lion, a survivor of bloodthirsty poachers, begins stalking them.

Beast is a heck of a lot of fun, lean thriller packed with action and suspense in a scenario of seclusion. There’s a fit for survival and the film tosses the audience right in the thick of it. Guided by Idris Elba and family, the movie delivers on some good character and drama throughout the fight of their lives. Its a punchy story of man vs nature that almost feels like a classy exploitation film.

Running at just 90 minutes, the film sets up and knocks down quite quickly with no excess baggage while also managing to provide terrific performances, great character work and an endearing family dynamic. Sharlto Copley whom I’ve never been much a fan of, actually is quite terrific in this film and provides the best performance I’ve seen from him since he broke out with District 9. Everybody successfully buys into the production and also looks like they were all damn near defeated by the end of it with such good, genuine dread and adrenaline on display.

The craft on display in this movie is very impressive. Philippe Rousselot’s lens is its own character in the film and one of the most important. There are a lot of long takes and traveling shots that provide great perspective and dive us into the mix even when its a non-action sequence. When they first discover the aftermath of an attack in daylight, it goes on, holding the shot and wandering around through the entire camp as we discover with Elba and go back to share with his girls. And the action put for when the lion comes to wreak havoc is very much evoking the best of Paul Greengrass’ style to good effect in feeling the punishment of battle. In the editing bay, the film cuts effectively and more casually here than many other movies of its type would.

If you’re looking for some nice, original thrills, let Beast be your guide. This is one of the best “man vs animal” type movies in a long time and quite possibly ever. Much of this hits the grime and grit of testing the realism, while also knowing how to deliver in the chills and thrills department as well as the stand up and cheer area. Idris Elba sells this and carries it with excellence to match the outstanding camera work from Philippe Rousselot. Beast is a that nifty original action/suspense/horror/thriller/star driven movie people are begging for more of and need to start showing up to at the box office for sure.

Video

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Layers: BD-50

Clarity/Detail: Beast arrives on Blu-ray with a very clear, sharp, vivid picture that really gives a nice sense of the brightness of the location as well so some good lighting during the nighttime sequences. There’s good color saturation on display as well as an impressive handling of the black levels in the image. There’s a load of texture and detail in every frame to keep you plenty engaged and your screen looking plenty full of a great looking display.

Depth:  Depth of field is pretty rock solid here. Its pretty much what you’d expect here, with a good separation and freeness between characters and environment. Movements are smooth and natural with no issues resulting from motion blur or jitter due to rapid action.

Black Levels: Black levels are pretty impressive and you get to see their saturation and close to natural levels right from the jump with a night scene. Contrast helps the colors jump a bit and no crushing is present.

Color Reproduction: This is a very desert looking movie, but the natural colors do have a bold look. More catchy colors do pop a bit on clothing and other little areas where some reds or blues may be used.

Flesh Tones: Skin tones are natural and consistent from start to finish. Facial features and textures are discernible from any reasonable distance in the frame.

Noise/Artifacts: None

Audio

Format(s): English 7.1 DTS-HD MA, Spanish 7.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 DTS, English Descriptive Video Service

Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French

Dynamics: Beast has a very raucous and loud 7.1 track to encapsulate you inside your viewing space. This balanced mix really lands you in the middle of everything with terrific nuance, atmosphere and striking action. There’s great layering and depth, with great detail even in the quieter moments of the film.

Height: N/A

Low Frequency Extension: The subwoofer has a good whallop and really brings crashing, growls, stomps and more to this mix.

Surround Sound Presentation: All channels are very accounted for here in this mix, which is a whirlwind experience all around the 360 degree viewing space. Rear and side channels not only provide good travel and off screen activity, they have some very nice power to it as well.

Dialogue Reproduction: Vocals are clear and crisp

Extras

Beast – Collector’s Edition comes with the DVD version and a redeemable digital code.

Deleted Scene (HD, :47)

Creating The Beast (HD, 4:07) – This featurette focuses on the lion and how they shot for CG and added in post production.

Man Vs. Lion: The Final Battle (HD, 2:57) – Idris Elba and company take a look at the film’s finale and what went in to crafting and exciting, believable confrontation.

Making It Real: The Wounds (HD, 4:10) – Takes a look at the make-up and gore effects utilized in the film as well as trying to be accurate with the details.

Filming In The Beast’s Territory (HD, 5:03) – We take a look at the location and places there within where the film was shot.

Family Bond: The Cast Of Beast (HD, 6:05) – A piece on the cast of the film, how they worked together, their thoughts on the story and the strengths they brought to the feature.

A Lion’s Pride (HD, 7:42) – Here’s a little featurette to educate a tad on lions.

Summary

Beast is a rather fun experience in a somewhat throwback exploitative suspense measure of filmmaking. The video and audio presentation is about as far as you can go with the standard Blu-ray format. Extras are pretty solid and a lot more than you might expect from a movie that underwhelmed at the box office. This might be more a rental now and discounted purchase later type film, but one worth seeking out.

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