Animals

Have you ever wondered what someone would have to do to make you cross a moral line? Books and movies often present those questions in one way or another, leaving us to ask ourselves—and our friends—“What would you do?” When it’s done well, it can spark a great conversation and maybe even teach you something about yourself. Ben Affleck’s latest, Animals, raises that kind of question, but the story surrounding it isn’t always as compelling as the dilemma.

From the opening minutes, we know Mark Kimball (Ben Affleck) wants to become the mayor of Los Angeles. He talks about making the city a better place, and he seems like a decent family man. He and his wife, Abigail (Kerry Washington), have a son, Denny (Christopher Woodley), and Mark tries to balance fatherhood with the demands of his campaign. Before entering politics, he was a lawyer, a career that may have earned him a few enemies. Now, someone is about to make his life hell.

Denny is out with the family’s nanny, Cecilia (Adriana Paz), and the son of her boyfriend, Ramon (Luis Gerardo Méndez), when the boys get separated. Someone grabs Denny, and a ransom call soon follows: Mark needs to come up with seven million dollars if he wants his son back. His chief of staff, Sam (Steven Yeun), knows someone who might help, but the money comes with strings attached. Desperate, Mark and Abigail agree, bringing Dayle (Gillian Anderson) into the picture. With the clock ticking, the question becomes just how far these parents will go to bring their son home.

Written by Connor O. McIntyre, Billy Ray, and Affleck, who also directs, Animals builds tension effectively and does a decent job of moving among its characters’ perspectives. Of course, a thriller like this isn’t going to take us straight from point A to point B. There are plenty of twists along the way, although they don’t all make the story more interesting.

The setup recalls Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low, with several familiar elements falling into place. Affleck adds adultery, marital tension, and political maneuvering, but those additions don’t always strengthen the film. The marriage troubles, in particular, aren’t especially engaging, and they pull attention away from the urgency of the kidnapping.

For a movie built around desperation and moral compromise, Animals feels surprisingly tame. Too often, its complications slow things down instead of tightening the tension. When the marital revelations take center stage, the story starts to stall, taking time away from some of its strongest performers.

Affleck is still an actor I enjoy watching, but both he and Washington seem emotionally restrained here, especially given what their characters are facing. Thankfully, Paz and Méndez bring some of the feeling the film needs. Then there’s the always fabulous Gillian Anderson, who makes the most of her time onscreen and reminds us how much presence she can bring to a role.

In his previous work as a director, Affleck has shown a knack for balancing good character drama with bursts of violence and action. Here, the pieces don’t come together as smoothly. The story grows more complicated without becoming more involving, and the ending doesn’t give those complications a satisfying payoff.

I wanted to like Animals more. The premise is strong, there are moments of real tension, and several performances deserve attention. But too much gets in the way of the smart, layered crime thriller it could have been. For me, these Animals are a little too tame.

Brian Taylor

Member of the North Texas Film Critics Association, and lover of all things Cinema