55
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80TheWrapYolanda MachadoTheWrapYolanda MachadoThough I have some reservations about a choice made towards the end of the film, everything else — from the cast to the documentary-style filmmaking to the varying perspectives of different characters from diverse backgrounds — is ambitious and intriguing.
- 70Film ThreatLorry KiktaFilm ThreatLorry KiktaBeast Beast captures the high school experience like lightning in a bottle.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterBeandrea JulyThe Hollywood ReporterBeandrea JulyAll three young actors who play the leads deliver solid performances that make them effortless tour guides through their intersecting stories.
- 70Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleLos Angeles TimesRobert AbeleYouthful self-expression is a joyride in a minefield in Danny Madden’s Beast Beast, an adrenalized, tone-shifting indie bringing the technology-fueled lives of three suburban souls of varying circumstances, hopes and concerns into pathways destined to converge.
- 67IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichIf there is a valuable movie to be made in the wake of America’s most recent wave of mass shootings, Beast Beast offers only tantalizing hints of what it might look like. And yet Madden’s eye is nevertheless sharp enough to draw some blood; the kids are alright, they’ve just had the bad luck of being raised in a country that can’t seem to give a shit why so many of them don’t survive to become adults.
- 60VarietyAmy NicholsonVarietyAmy NicholsonBeast Beast’s plot twist is a swing at gravitas that disrupts the balance of Madden’s naturalistic character study. This is the way teen life is, Madden says, until suddenly the film accelerates from reality to sensationalism, and trades humanity for pulp.
- 50Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerAustin ChronicleRichard WhittakerThe narrative trick that worked within the narrower confines of Krista seems almost absurd here, a leaden feel-good ending that sits at complete odds with the formless opening. Beast Beast is far better when it's abstract and observational, drifting somewhere between the wistful compassion of Jonah Hill's Mid90s and the sociological immediacy of Larry Clark's Kids.
- Beast Beast has no real drive to it, and it becomes especially apparent once something actually “happens.”
- 38RogerEbert.comOdie HendersonRogerEbert.comOdie HendersonThe three leads do a good job creating their characters, with cinematographer Kristian Zuniga giving each of their tales a specific look and color scheme. But this also suffers from that indie fever where the camera and framing goes askew and "documentary style" for no reason except to distract you from how familiar the story is.
- Revolving around of group of multi-ethnic Gen Z-ers in the American south, this message-heavy film tries hard to tackle urgent issues such as social media, familial conflicts and, above all, gun violence. The film only succeeds at peddling barely tolerable coming-of-age cliches.