With the right material, Ben Affleck can be a great actor and an even better director. With only six times behind the camera, the multi-talented performer has proven his skills by crafting sharp character thrillers that are alive with atmosphere and intensity. With only two directorial efforts under his belt, the filmmaker steered 2012’s Argo to a surprising win for Best Picture. Behind the camera, Ben Affleck is a critical and commercial darling. Future scientists will need to study what went so terribly wrong with his latest effort, Animals, a film so inept, it plays like a joke.
The existence of Akira Kurosawa’s masterful 1963 morality thriller, High and Low and Spike Lee’s 2025 remake, titled Highest 2 Lowest is a major issue for Affleck’s new film. Both works were taken from the 1959 Ed McBain novel, King’s Ransom. The story involved a wealthy businessman in the middle of an important takeover that will bring financial success. The character has put all of his cash and equity into making this happen and is now living on financial fumes. A kidnapper targets his son, asking for millions in ransom money. It is revealed that the wrong child has been taken, as the chauffeur’s son is the one who was mistakenly abducted. This forces the man into an impossible moral conflict. Does he pay the ransom to save the other family’s boy (doing so will see him fall into financial ruin), or does he refuse and save his company?
The screenplay for Animals was written by Connor O. McIntyre, Billy Ray, and Affleck. The plot? A wealthy politician has put all of his cash and equity into his mayoral campaign and is now living on financial fumes. A kidnapper targets his son, asking for millions in ransom money. It is revealed that the wrong child has been taken, as his handyman’s son is the one who was mistakenly abducted. This forces the politician into an impossible moral conflict. Does he pay the ransom to save the other family’s boy (doing so will see him fall into financial ruin), or does he refuse and save his campaign?
There are, of course, some dramatic differences here and there, but the plot is damn near a carbon copy of the previously mentioned works. With the absence of a “based on the book/ film by…” credit, how the McBain and Kurosawa estates are not suing this film is anyone’s guess.
Ben Affleck overacts as Mark Kimball, the attorney running for mayor of Los Angeles. Mark has just put every penny of his family’s money into his campaign. Steven Yeun is offensively underused as Sam Alison, Mark’s friend and campaign manager. The two men are hiding the fact that the Kimball family are basically broke unless Mark was to win the election; a secret they are keeping from Mark’s psychiatrist wife, Abigail (Kerry Washington).
Once the kidnapping is set in motion, the family begins to implode and the overacting begins. Ben Affleck hasn’t chewed the scenery at this level since his goofily emotional outbursts in the Michael Bay travesty, Armageddon. Kerry Washington is a good actress, but her performance is void of any emotion, even when asked to emote. Both performers do the worst work of their respective careers.
Sam calls in a high-powered fixer, Dayle Burton (a terrible Gillian Anderson, who seems to be in another film altogether). Anderson is all calculated posture and monotone threats. Whatever the intent, the performance is overdone and laughable.
Burton’s work comes at a high price, but Mark agrees. There is nothing he won’t do to assure his son’s safe return. After his son turns up, Mark and Abigail discover the kidnapper’s mistake. It was the son of their housekeeper’s undocumented boyfriend Ramón (Luis Gerardo Méndez) who was taken.
Adriana Paz plays the Kimball’s housekeeper. A fine actress (see her work in 2024’s Emilia Pérez), Paz is reduced to a humbled, weeping, and helpless stereotype. Méndez fares no better. The film tries for a potency regarding his character’s dilemma, but the ineptitude of the screenplay makes Ramón an unfortunate cliché with a ridiculous arc.
Animals tries hard in its first act. The setup is interesting, as the domestic drama and kidnapping/political thriller pieces move into play. Unfortunately, the screenplay is appallingly designed; setting up plot threads and characters that go nowhere while forcing good actors to spout ridiculous dialogue.
Abigail is having an affair. The reasons are simply because she is lonely. We meet the other man (Ray Fisher) only once, then he is thrown away. No further insight is given into the depth of Abigail’s unrest. Gillian Anderson’s character has a mysterious driver (Chris Gann) who never speaks a word. When his time comes to get into the mix, the moment is bungled by the filmmakers. Steven Yeun’s Sam is a big part of the film’s first half, but is then thrust into the background.
Other ideas are thrown around but the screenplay never explores any of them. Mark is nothing but a frantic sourpuss who occasionally yells. Think of the layers of emotion both Toshiro Mifune and Denzel Washington brought to their characters in the Kurosawa and Lee pictures. Ben Afflck has nothing to work with. Mark is crafted with a soap opera silliness. There is no real depth to his or Abigail’s creation. There is not one moment where their marriage feels authentic and when the couple has an emotional sexual encounter, the scene becomes the film’s most unintentionally hilarious. Affleck looks constantly confused and Washington looks bored.
As the film snowballs into something undeniably ludicrous, people react to every new revelation so awkwardly, that no emotion feels authentic. Around the halfway mark and especially in the final act, unintentional hilarity ensues and the film never recovers.
Sadly, there is nothing to recommend about Animals. Robert Elswit’s cinematography looks like every other “Let’s make L.A. look slick but Dangerous” film design, while Harry Gregson-Willams’ score sounds like an episode of any modern television cop show. From the performances to the script, from the direction to the production entire, the film comes and goes with less than a whisper.
Netflix’s newest thriller was released without any fanfare. With its popular cast and the talented Affleck directing, the level of ineptitude is shocking. Animals is an embarrassing and absolutely disposable catastrophe. That it comes from such a talented filmmaker makes it all the more heartbreaking.
Animals
Written by Connor O. McIntyre, Billy Ray, & Ben Affleck
Directed by Ben Affleck
Starring Ben Affleck, Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun, Gillian Anderson, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Adriana Paz
R, 116 Minutes, Netflix
