nerrdrage

I don't know if you've noticed but Netflix has a bad habit of greenlighting the first draft of shows and movies, when a rewrite or five might have brought it up to speed.

The Beast in Me sure doesn't have that problem. The plotline has plenty of killer twists but I couldn't find anything to poke holes in like I usually do. About all I can say is: given that Nile is a middle-aged runner, why in the world does he want to pave the running trail, when that's so hard on aging knees? Something softer like bark or gravel would be preferable. Other than that, I got nothing.

The actors will be up for Emmys for this. Claire Danes as a woman on the edge who can barely believe what she's being sucked into. Matthew Rhys as a charming guy who might be unfairly accused. Brittany Snow as the loyal wife who may be complicit, or not.

This nuclear thriller starts out exactly as advertised. Tense, you can't look away. Then the storytelling technique causes the tension to dissipate until it just becomes faintly annoying.

Given the theme (embodied in the title), I can see why they ended it like they did, but that doesn't make it satisfying or good.

Usually I find movies where the characters make obviously dumb choices to be frustrating, nothing I would ever recommend.

This movie gets a pass because the characters are in desperate situations due to their bad choices. They are stressed, overly emotional, irrational. So if the plotline sometimes depends on characters doing stupid things, over and over, well that's just reality.

At the end, it's aggravating to realize the whole plotline happened because one character didn't admit a key thing and just say it. But then again, that is how people operate.

Not a feel-good movie. Somewhat akin to a documentary of the underclass.