When the subject is a bear who has lost its mind due to drugs and pushes the limits of brutality, it naturally piqued my interest. Watching people torn apart by a white-nosed bear is one of my pleasures as someone who loves horror. Yes, I’m crazy. Elizabeth Banks is also a name I trust. When the director and the subject’s attractiveness came together, I eagerly awaited to see it on the big screen. However, I was disappointed by a much greater frustration than my expectations. As someone who approaches everything from the 80s with extra excitement, I still couldn’t enjoy the movie I watched. On top of that, I was bored. Because the film cannot fill the expectation created by its name and trailer with its story. Let me explain the reasons.
In short, let’s touch on its subject matter… Someone finds the 200 kilos of drugs that fell from a plane into a forest in Georgia before its owner and the police: A Brown Bear. The lovely bear, who wonders what the bags falling from the sky onto its own home are, encounters an excitement it has never tasted. And she starts looking for this white excitement throughout the forest. But while looking for it, she meets unwelcome guests: those who accidentally come across the drugs during a harmless forest walk and the real owners of the drugs raining from the sky.
The idea of a white-cocaine-painted bear with blood-soaked teeth is really a fun idea. The image of people running away and a bear chasing them was the first image that came to my mind. Technically, the movie is just that. However, having a beautiful idea and notion is not technically enough. There are severe shortcomings in the film, and these shortcomings cause the movie, which should be extremely fun, to be oppressively boring.
We know that the movie is based on a true story. The problem is that the film promises nothing except for the bear character in the true story. The story surrounding the bear’s aggression is quite dull. No exciting element making the movie watchable when we move beyond the bear parts. The chase between the owners of the drugs raining from the sky and their aides and the police in the forest is interestingly dull. In addition, there is a lack of pace in almost all acting in the movie.
I was expecting the story to be much crazier and more insane, but I couldn’t find the craziness I expected. Our bear is not creative enough to impress me. Aside from the movie stopping at many points, the finale is also tedious. For some reason that I cannot figure out, the ending manages to make the movie, which should be filled with events that are hard to believe, unconvincing. Of course, I did not check the stories in the newspaper and the main plot of the event. I do not know how much the story has changed. I’m sure it has changed quite a bit. I have no problem with the changes. But if it will make an already exciting story even more enjoyable.
In summary… Cocaine Bear, despite the excitement it created with its name and trailer, unfortunately, fails to deliver. There is no excitement in the film other than the bear. To make matters worse, the bear itself is not exciting enough. What’s even worse is that Elizabeth Banks showed weaker directing than I expected. The sluggishness of the characters, the dullness of the subplot, and the fact that the bear didn’t take enough cocaine, unfortunately, prevented me from enjoying the film that I was eagerly waiting for. I believed I would leave the theater with great pleasure, but I have to say that I left with disappointment.
Cast & Crew
director: Elizabeth Banks
writers: Jimmy Warden
starring: Ray Liotta, Keri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich, O’Shea Jackson Jr.,
USA | 2023 | 95 MINUTES |