#labelva

La belva (The Beast if you’re watching the English dub) doesn’t do anything wrong… but its premise is tired. At this point, unless you’re doing something novel with the “they’ve kidnapped my daughter and I need to use my career skills to get her back” genre, you shouldn’t even bother whether you’re from America or anywhere else.

Still suffering from the trauma he endured in the Afghanistan War, Leonida Riva (Fabrizio Gifuni) is trying to remain connected to his son Mattia (Emanuele Linfatti) and daughter Teresa (Giada Gagliardi). When she is kidnapped, Leonida pursues the culprits with the police hot on their tails.

It’s Italian Taken with the smallest of tweaks. There are some flashbacks to the event that ended Leonida’s career and he’s more vulnerable than most action heroes, but that’s it. Even the reason for Teresa’s kidnapping isn’t new. Since we don’t get to see any of these events from her point of view or get to know her at all, she might as well have been Leonida’s dog. There are points where you think director Ludovico Di Martino will give you more. The police (led by Lino Musella) suspect Leonida is involved because he always leaves crime scenes seconds before they arrive. It amounts to little. Mattia blames himself for his sister’s kidnapping (rightfully so) but if this movie was any longer than 97 minutes, you could’ve surgically removed his character and lost almost nothing.

You probably aren’t interested in a movie called The Beast for the familial drama. You want to know how badly Leonida mangles the villains who cross his path before he burning the building down around them and they're sent from one inferno to another. The good news is the villains are more than loathsome enough for their deaths to be pleasant to watch. By this I mean they’re just there to be killed and have no dimension whatsoever. Most viewers will be disappointed by the violence as well. It’s neither gloriously creative nor is it realistic to the point of making you question if the price paid is too high. Bad guys die but their demises are nothing to write home about, certainly not for a movie titled The Beast.

Fabrizio Gifuni gives a solid performance in his role. He’s the best thing about the movie. You can feel the emotional weight of his mission and of all the other missions he’s ever had on his shoulders. You like him and hope he saves his daughter but more importantly, reconnects with his estranged family. I’ve been down on the film overall but tension is present. Unfortunately, the conclusion is disappointing and overall, the movie lacks both innovation and ambition. You can watch it and remain entertained but you won’t remember The Beast down the line. (Original Italian with English Subtitles, December 2, 2020)