Samuel L. Jackson reunites with his The Long Kiss Goodnight and Deep Blue Sea director Renny Harlin for The Beast, a fun, exciting throwback to the high-concept action-thrillers of yesteryear. The film’s premise is simple but never dull: The President of the United States (Jackson) finds himself trapped inside his own armored fortress of a limousine (The Beast of the title) after terrorists attack him and wipe out nearly his entire Secret Service detail.

POTUS must drive himself and his wounded Secret Service agent, Taft (Joel Kinnaman), through a war zone to reach the designated extraction point. Unfortunately, getting there is nearly impossible as some unidentified alliance of enemies has launched a simultaneous attack on the U.S. and multiple other nations, developments that have abruptly left the whole world in upheaval.

The enemy’s agenda is murky but their firepower and expertise has essentially crippled the entire U.S. national defense apparatus. Thankfully for POTUS, The Beast isn’t just an armored car; it also has plenty of hi-tech offensive weapons to fight back with. It’s basically The President’s Batmobile.

Relentlessly paced, The Beast plays out in real time. The movie literally starts with a bang – watch the opening three minutes here – and never lets up. Terms like “full throttle” and “high-octane” are bandied about in movie marketing all the time, but The Beast is one of the few movies that can sincerely sell itself that way.

The Beast is basically a two-hander on wheels, as Jackson and Kinnaman share the screen together almost the entire time.

Source link