Beast | 2022 | R | – 1.8.5

Why is “Beast” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “violent content, bloody images and some language.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes many lion attacks mostly after the fact leaving humans dead and with many bloody wounds shown, an extended fight between a lion and a man causing bloody wounds on both, a car fire killing a man, a few scenes of poachers killing wild animals for profit, a few arguments, discussions of the death of a woman from cancer, and at least 2 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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When a man (Idris Elba) takes his two teenage daughters (Leah Jeffries and Iyana Halley) to South Africa to explore the wildlife along with an old friend (Sharlto Copley), they inadvertently become caught up in the brutal world of poaching, and are chased by a lone, rogue lion intent on revenge. Also with Tafara Nyatsanza. Directed by Baltasar Kormákur. Several lines of dialogue are spoken in Tshivenda and an unidentified language with English subtitles. [Running Time: 1:33]

Beast SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A man has a dream that his wife is sleeping next to him and caresses his shoulder. There’s a brief scene of flirting between a teen girl and a young man, and a man says that his last girlfriend left.
► A man is shown shirtless and covered with bloody bandages in a hospital scene.

Beast VIOLENCE/GORE 8

 – A man goads a lion toward him, he runs away and the lion chases him to an open area; the lion then pounces on the man, they fight, the lion claws and bites him (we see bloody wounds), the man kicks and punches the lion, slashes it with a knife, stabs it in the back (blood spurts) and the lion jumps on him repeatedly; two other lions approach and attack the first lion, as the man crawls away, very bloody.
► When a man leaves a truck and stands on the roof with a tranquilizer gun, a lion lunges toward him, knocks the man off the truck, and he clambers under the truck as the lion tries to reach him, snapping its jaws and reaching with its claws; the man kicks the lion in the face a few times, hits it with a gun butt, and a teen girl stabs the lion in the hip with a tranquilizer dart causing the animal to stumble away. A man leaves a truck to search for another man and a lion charges him; the man rushes back to the truck and jumps in closing the door behind him as the lion slams into the door and cracks the window (the man has been slashed on the leg and we later see blood) and the lion reaches in a partially open window trying to slash at the man and two teen girls inside. When a lion attacks three people in a truck, a teen girl steps on the accelerator and the vehicle speeds off the road and crashes into a tree. A man with a gun walks through brush looking for a lion, he sees two crocodiles swimming into water and when he turns around he is confronted by a lion; we hear a roar and a gunshot and we later see the man with a very bloody leg wound and he says that he can’t walk and that he is “torn up.” A lion pounds on a truck windshield cracking it, and it walks away and charges toward the truck breaking a side window; two teen girls inside the truck get out and a man and the lion in the truck fall over a ridge where we see the lion limp away; gasoline spills on the man and when the lion returns the man sets it ablaze.
► A man searches a village for people and no one seems to be around until he enters a shelter and yells for another man and two teen girls to stay away; we see many dead bodies inside the shelter (with bloody wounds shown and flies swarming around them). A teen girl screams in the distance and her father finds her standing near a dead young woman and a dead cow with bloody wounds visible. A man runs onto a road in front of a truck and we see that he is badly injured and is covered with blood (he talks of a devil and we understand that he was attacked by a lion); another man tries to perform CPR on him, but the man dies. A man yells in the distance and another man searches for him, the yelling man comes out of tall grass with a bloody claw mark on his face and neck and he collapses below the frame; the other man runs away and his foot is caught in a trap, he dangles from a tree limb, and we hear a roar as the scene ends (implying a lion attack).
► A man walks through brush searching for another man, and he finds a dead man on the ground with large bloody wounds; as the man continues his search he encounters a lion and hides from it several times and one time he hides on a tree limb where a snake slithers toward him, he grabs the snake and drops it on the lion’s back (the lion runs away). Two teen girls hide inside an abandoned school and a lion prowls through toward them; a man with a gun shoots at the lion and the three people hide in another building with a heavy gate.
► Many men with guns surround a truck where a man, his two teenage daughters and a wounded man are hiding from a lion; the men hold their guns on the first man and threaten him, one man hits him with a gun (we see blood on his head) and pulls one of the teens out of the truck until a lion jumps on a man and the others chase the animal into the brush (we hear many gunshots and yelling). A wounded man (we see some blood on his face and hand) pounds on a truck window asking for help and collapses (presumably dead).
► A man heats a knife blade to glowing red-hot and presses it against a very deep leg wound (we hear him yell). A teen girl has a bloody claw mark on her side and a man treats it with alcohol and a bandage (she complains of feeling as if she is going to be sick, but she does not vomit). A man prepares to clamp and stitch a bleeding leg wound on a man and the wounded man passes out. A man has a large scar on his face. A man wakes up in a hospital bed with bloody bandages on his shoulders, arms and chest.
► Several scenes show a lion prowling around people and seeming threatening. Several scenes show men with guns moving through jungle settings and we hear shooting; one scene shows several lions attacking a zebra carcass (we see blood and tissue on the zebra and bloody gunshot wounds on the lions) hanging from a tree limb and all but one of the lions are shot, and two men search for the last lion. Several dead lions are loaded into the back of a truck (we see some bloody wounds). Two vultures peck around a blood smeared truck (we do not see a carcass). A lion has a bloody leg wound and a man suspects that it has been shot, but it becomes aggressive when he tries to approach; another lion walks in front of the man and he leaves. An abandoned school is seen with many animal carcasses hanging from a ceiling.
► A man walks toward a pride of lions and calls to a male; the male walks toward him, jumps on him and they wrestle playfully and another male lion joins the game. A man loads a rifle with tranquilizer darts. Two teen girls and a man walk toward a tree and many birds flush toward them (they are startled).
► A man has several dreams about his dead wife and that he is looking for her; he wakes up with a start. A man has a nightmare that he wakes up in a truck and his children are gone; he turns the headlights of the truck on and they shine on the two girls outside as a lion pounces on them (he wakes up with a start). A teen girl and her father argue a few times about his not being present when his wife was dying. A teen girl complains about the heat, two teen girls argue in several scenes, a teen girl is upset when told there is no Wi-Fi or cell phone service where they are staying, and a teen girl remarks about needing family therapy. A teen girl confronts her father and says that he left them when her mother got sick. A man regrets having let his children down. A man talks about copper mining and that when it dried up, everyone left. A teen girl says that she read about anti-poachers hunting down and killing poachers. A man talks about a lion going rogue after poachers killed its pride.

Beast LANGUAGE 5

 – About 2 F-words, 4 scatological terms, 1 anatomical term, 7 mild obscenities, name-calling (daredevil, big ol’ head, not much of a hugger, miss know it all, terrible idea), exclamations (oh my gosh, oh my goodness, shut-up), 12 religious exclamations (e.g. Jesus, Jesus Christ, thank God, oh God, oh my God, my God, Lord, God dang). | profanity glossary |

Beast SUBSTANCE USE

 – Two men drink alcohol in one scene to the point of apparent inebriation and one of them carries a liquor bottle and says that it is their second.

Beast DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Wildlife preservation, African wildlife, poaching, anti-poachers, death of a parent, terminal illness, law of the jungle, dehydration, trust, forgiveness.

Beast MESSAGE

 – Eventually wild animals are likely to revolt against being murdered by poachers.