This week, Seth Lukas Hynes reviews Cocaine Bear, starring Keri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich and O’Shea Jackson Jr.
Rated MA15+
4.25/5
Based (very loosely) on true events, Cocaine Bear is about an American black bear that terrorises the local community after eating a dumped shipment of cocaine.
Cocaine Bear has fun with its absurd premise but still delivers a tense, brutal and well-paced horror comedy.
Director Elizabeth Banks skilfully juggles several interweaving plot-threads and a large cast of quirky but relatable characters. The bear is a terrifying creature brought to life with very convincing CGI, and its rampages are great sequences of cleverly-staged, blood-soaked physical comedy.
Much of the plot is focused around a coveted duffel-bag of cocaine, which several characters pursue for different reasons, but this bag is a fresher Macguffin than most because its contents can (and do) turn the bear into an even greater threat. The film has a solid three-act structure of rising stakes and carnage, and the many plot-threads converge for a suspenseful but fun and even moving climax (with my only gripe being the murky night-time cinematography).
Cocaine Bear is set in 1985, and the setting feels authentic without bombarding you with references. Needless to say, Just Can’t Get Enough by Depeche Mode is a perfect soundtrack choice.
Some humour works by pushing the limits of taste. A scene of two children finding a batch of drugs in the woods could be reprehensible if handled poorly, but in this movie it’s one of the most subversively hilarious moments in years.
A funny, nasty film with a clever, well-structured plot, Cocaine Bear is playing in most Victorian cinemas.
– Seth Lukas Hynes
