Ep 124: The Beast

AN OVERLOOKED CLASSIC WAR FILM FROM 1988

The Cinemondo gang takes a recommendation from a listener named Nick who insisted that we watch THE BEAST, a war movie from 1988 directed by Kevin Reynolds and starring Steven Bauer, Jason Patric and Stephen Baldwin. He claims it’s great. An overlooked gem. An underrated and forgotten classic. Sounds like Cinemondo material, for sure. And guess what? Nick was right. 

This is a film that has everything. It’s a bit violent, as war films tend to be, but this one’s definitely about the characters and the interactions between cultures. We’ve got a Russian tank team and a group of Afghani mujahideen fighters going after each other in the desert. It’s part war film, part isolation horror and definitely full of great moments, nicely directed by Kevin Reynolds. You do have to accept the slight strangeness of the Russian tank crew speaking perfect English; they don’t even do Russian accents, but once you get past that, you’re in. Great cast, a harrowing story and according to various sources, it’s pretty accurate with the military gear and ops.There is a pretty memorably violent scene near the beginning and the usual amount of violence you might expect from a war film, but it’s definitely worth a watch, even if you’re not into war movies

Check out the video of our THE BEAST review on YouTube! And please subscribe!