Last night I watched Animals, which is kind of new on Netflix, as it was released on the 9th of this month. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a new release hunter, I'm ok with older movies and series, but as I was scrolling through the offer, I saw Ben Affleck's name on the list and decided to give it a try. His name is a respected one in the industry, so the name alone is a guarantee already, but after watching the movie, I might say I'm not sure anymore. Now that I'm looking at the data available on IMDb I see Ben Affleck is the director, so the situation is even worse, but let's get into it.
As I said above, I knew nothing about the movie, the only reason I watched it was Ben Affleck, but he was not the only big name. Pretty soon Gillian Anderson showed up, who's not as famous as Ben Affleck, but she's still respected in the industry. I used to like her back when she played agent Scully in The X-files, but she has changed a lot since then and kind of went in a direction I don't like. Regardless, when I saw her, I said the movie must be good. The other surprise in the cast was Kerry Washington, who I know from Scandal.
When the son of an L.A. Mayoral Candidate is kidnapped, he and his wife have a few hours to come up with the ransom payment. With most of their money spent on his political campaign, they have to get their hands dirty and exposing a side of their lives they never intended to see the light of day.
The storyline is not unique, we have seem kidnapping movies several, but this is a bit different from the others.
Mark Kimball (Ben Affleck) an aspiring politician, doing everything he can to climb the political ladder, is facing a situation no parent want to find themselves in. His son is kidnapped and the ransom money the kidnapper asked for, had to be arranged somehow as he invested all they had in his campaign. There's always someone who has that kind of money but as nothing comes for free in life, this help came with some strings attached.
What was interesting here was the options they were considering. In most, or all the kidnapping cases there are two options: you either pay, or you don't, but they have a third option as well.
As it happens in these cases, an investigation starts, to see who could be behind this brutal act and as there are no saints on this planet, skeletons start falling out of each closet.
The script is focusing quite a lot on the moral side of the story, so if you're expecting an action movie, this is not one. They are discussing quite a lot of issues, sometimes calmly, sometimes angrily as stress is building up as situation spares no one.
The ending was quite surprising but I loved it. I think it sets this movie apart from the pack, but even with such an ending, it was really bad for several reasons and not even the big names could save it.
First of all, for me it seemed very slow-paced and dragged out. A bit more dynamic could have added to its value. It seems like this was Ben Affleck's big occasion to show off with his Spanish. I have nothing against that, I appreciate people who take the effort to learn another language, that was fine, but his acting ... I've never seen him acting this badly. He is a very talented actor, we've seen plenty of proof in this regard, but he was really bad in this role.
After some digging, I found out he was the director and this is not all.
Matt Damon was originally cast in the lead role with Ben Affleck directing. However, Damon dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with his movie The Odyssey (2026), and Affleck took on the lead role himself.
Sooooo, basically he gave himself the role :)
After reading how he got the role, was thinking that Matt Damon would have been way better than him. I like the guy, have seen in plenty of similar movies and think he would have been better playing Mark Kimball.
Gillian Anderson was a disappointment too. It seems like, or better said, she thinks her strength lays in playing the deadpan face. I liked her as agent Scully but after this movie I think it's better for me if I avoid her.
All in all, it was a waste of time and the best thing about it is that I'm going to forget it fast.
Someone on IMDb said:
The names get you to press play, but the movie gives you almost no reason to stay.
I totally agree. I stayed as I though it gets better, but it didn't.
Oh well, onto the next one.
Rating: 40/100
