Review: Affleck's 'Animals' Is Just Bad TV — SkimNews
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- Ben Affleck's 'Animals' opens in select theaters and on Netflix on October 9; Affleck directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Connor O. McIntyre and Billy Ray.
- Mark Kimball (Affleck's character) is a moneyed LA mayoral candidate borrowing against his own home equity, who needs just over two percent of the Latino vote to overtake the incumbent — until a kidnapping ransom demand for his son derails the campaign.
- Gillian Anderson plays Dayle, a glamorous 'crisis fixer' offering to make the kidnapping vanish, but the reviewer says the trio of screenwriters gave her nothing to do beyond 'haughtily serious' camp.
- Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Elswit ('There Will Be Blood,' Netflix's 'Ripley') shot the film, yet the reviewer found no visual signature — just 'shot-reverse-shots that consist of pure coverage.'
- The reviewer flags the irony that Affleck previously criticized Netflix's 'assembly line' production model, noting 'Animals' 'sure looks like it was put together in a factory.'
- Supporting cast includes Kerry Washington as Mark's wife, Steven Yeun as his ruthless campaign manager, Adriana Paz as a Mexican nanny the reviewer calls 'dismally wasted in a subservient victim role,' and Luis Gerardo Méndez as her undocumented boyfriend.
Why it matters: Affleck's prior Netflix film, the black-and-white 'Ripley,' showed genuine stylistic ambition; 'Animals' is a stylistic retreat, and the irony of his earlier 'assembly line' critique makes the flatness sting more. For Netflix's film slate, the review reinforces a pattern of mid-budget thrillers that critics describe as visually interchangeable with television.
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