La belva

The movie has a good beginning and the Beast character is perfect. But then the plot becomes really slow, the action is slow, the hero looses his strength and falls in serious danger. It is not clear the intention of the movie: an action movie, a family/love movie, both of the them ? Well in my opinion none of them had success. Finally with its rhytms movie is too long (I risked to fall asleep). But Ludovico Di Martino has really good possibilities (scenes, lights, actors), so c'mon let show them.

That Italian flick tries something already used and overused by the US film industry: a former Special Forces member suffering of post traumatic disorder and whose daughter was abducted. I expected something new from this European film, especially released on Netflix, I expected something daring, more brutal, gritty, why not nasty, disgusting, disturbing. But directing and acting are more than OK though.

If only they had added "I have a particular set of skills..." it might have been better.

Netflix advertises this film well showing Fabrizio Gifuni as a tough, no nonsense, 'get the job done' ex-military father who is central to the movie. Sadly though, the film didn't meet the hope or expectations I had for it.

The good and the bad:

• When the end graphic 'La Belva' (The Beast) is better than the movie, you know something went wrong.
• From a broad view the story is fine, even if it has been told many times: A young family member is kidnapped leaving the father to get them back.
• Fabrizio Gifuni almost looks the part, grizzled with an over the top beard. However, for a man who supposedly spent 30 years in special forces he is a scrawny
• Stemming from the last point, the only relevance I can see in learning he was in special forces for 30 years was to give the impression he has a 'particular set of skills which make men like him dangerous to people who might kidnap his daughter'. However, he doesn't display any more skill than a determined father who can handle himself.
• The film fails to develop the characters leaving the viewer not caring much for them. For example, we don't learn much about the young girl who is kidnapped other than her big brother leaves her eating chips at a table where, predictably, it all goes wrong.
• Typical to the Italian stereotype, the film has great hype but no substance.

The negatives could go on, but it would be like shooting fish in a barrel (i.e. easy).

La Belva (2020) is not a film I will remember, and much like El Sabotage (2014) this review will be the only reminder I once saw it.

La Belva is a stylishly-made-but-ultimately-generic actioner with a father-saves-daughter plot that's been done to death. Leonida Riva is an ex-army veteran suffering from PTSD and has partially disconnected himself from his wife and children. When his little daughter gets kidnapped, he revives the beast inside of him to get her back. A film that goes the 'Taken' route with slightly more layered characters, La Belva's strength lies in its set-pieces. Though there's nothing we haven't already seen, there's some beauty in the staging of a car chase or a good ol' fashioned fist-fight.

As in the case of action thrillers, fallacies (Riva infiltrates places with ease) in continuity and logic are conveniently ignored. The climactic finale gets over even before it begins; the weakest of all. Fabrizio Gifuni's rugged, tough-man act is befitting the film's plot, while the rest of the cast is adequate. La Belva offers nothing new to the genre, but as an action-movie fanatic, it didn't put me to sleep either.

This movie is watchable, but not as good as I had hoped. Guy just gets his ass kicked most of the time. Should have gave the script to Scott Adkins.