‘Animals’ movie review: Ben Affleck’s thriller squanders its premise and cast

In Animals, the biggest crime that Ben Affleck makes is not that he did not acknowledge a debt of inspiration to Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low (1963), or that he used AI in post production, but that he made such a flaccid crime thriller. We definitely expect more from the man who gave us Argo and The Town.

Mark Kimball (Ben Affleck) is rich, successful and has a beautiful home and family. He is running as an independent candidate in the Los Angeles mayoral elections. On the advice of his campaign manager, Sam (Steven Yeun), Mark puts all the family’s savings into the campaign.

Mark does not tell his wife, Abigail (Kerry Washington) about the money. On Halloween, when their son, Denny (Christopher Woodley), is kidnapped and there is a demand for a $7 million ransom, the family is in crisis. There is also the matter of money, since Mark has put all their savings into buying airtime. Sam suggests Dayle (Gillian Anderson) the person you call if you are in a sticky situation.

The housekeeper, Cecilia (Adriana Paz), has her share of trouble. Her boyfriend, Ramon (Luis Gerardo Méndez) is an undocumented immigrant. Ramon is looking for work but Mark cannot oblige because of the conflicting messaging.

Though the film is short and moves quickly, one gets the feeling that coherence and logic have been sacrificed for pace. There are so many threads that make their way into the film only for them to be buried in a series of fast cuts and bombastic dialogue.

There are so many questions that the film remains stubbornly coy about answering. How does Sam know Dayle? Who is she? Who is the kidnapper? The film seems to suggest Mark has crossed paths with them before but we never learn what the kidnapper hoped to achieve.

Abigail’s deceit seems to be set up for a great revelation which also does not arrive as that plot-line dissolves. There are questions about race and how much you are willing to sacrifice when push comes to shove, but all of it remains frustratingly unexplored.

By the time we reach the climax in the Los Angeles River basin, the film has given up all hope of being treated seriously, as snipers and random gunmen take potshots at each other while children pop out of wagons into people’s arms.

Animals is beautifully shot and the Kimball family home is gorgeous. Affleck’s Mark is disconcerting in his switches from charming politician to terrified dad and furious husband while Washington’s immaculately fitted fluid trousers are carrying a lot of her acting chops.

The only one who is having a ball is Anderson as the sinister, cynical, husky-voiced fixer who travels with stacks of cash on the off chance that her services might be needed.

Do not go to Animals expecting a dissertation on class, politics, race or marriage. If you watch it while solving Wordle (the curse of the second screen strikes again) you could look up every time Anderson is floating about in her sparkling white clothes (and wonder like Lalitha ji in the detergent commercial) or for yet another glimpse of the City of Angels through the huge picture windows or for a sweep of Washington’s divinely cut trousers.

Animals is currently streaming on Netflix