Ben Affleck’s 100-Minute Netflix Thriller “Animals” Lands With Dull Reviews
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Oct 8
Ben Affleck’s 100-Minute Netflix Thriller “Animals” Lands With Dull Reviews
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Oct 8
Summary
Netflix released “Animals” on Oct. 9, and early reviews describe Ben Affleck’s 100-minute crime thriller as listless despite its mayoral-candidate kidnapping premise.
The film centers on Mark Kimball, an independent Los Angeles mayoral hopeful whose preteen son is abducted for $7 million on Halloween, setting up a money-and-power crisis that critics say never gains urgency.
Reviewers fault the screenplay by Affleck, Billy Ray and Connor O McIntyre for circular arguments, weightless revelations and a thin take on Los Angeles politics, even with Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun and Gillian Anderson in the cast.
Comparisons to Akira Kurosawa’s “High and Low” and Spike Lee’s recent kidnapping thriller sharpened the criticism, with the film seen as borrowing familiar material without adding much texture or new insight.