THE STORY – When their son is kidnapped, a Los Angeles mayoral candidate and his wife find themselves drawn into a web of deception. As they scramble to raise the ransom payment, they’re forced to make choices – and reveal secrets – that could tear their world apart.
THE CAST – Ben Affleck, Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Gillian Anderson, Adriana Paz, Ray Fisher, Jacob Estrada & Christopher Woodley
THE TEAM – Ben Affleck (Director/Writer) & Connor O. McIntyre & Billy Ray (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 105 Minutes
It seems like Hollywood directors can’t stop themselves from putting their own spin on Akira Kurosawa’s highly influential “High and Low.” Just last year we had Spike Lee’s reinterpretation, “Highest 2 Lowest,” which closely followed the kidnapping-gone-wrong storyline with his own musical spin on it, but it largely lacked the finesse that Kurosawa had with his masterpiece. Now, Oscar winner Ben Affleck is stepping up to the plate with “Animals,” which attempts to tie in politics, immigration, and marital drama in under two hours. The result is the messiest version yet as it’s overstuffed with too many storylines, it fails to dig into the societal issues it’s hinting at, and it has a truly wacky ending. But it might just be the best depiction of insane political spin we’ll ever get.
Wealthy attorney Mark Kimball (Affleck) is running for LA mayor, and he promises that he’s the guy that’ll fix all of the city’s issues. Unlike his opponent (a Latina who we never see), he takes the time to talk to real Angelenos, go to devastated parts of the city, and listen to their problems. Residents aren’t really buying it though, as his campaign manager Sam (Steven Yeun) informs him that he’s behind in the polls, and he barely has any additional money to spend. All of this stress is leading to problems at home with his wife Abby (Kerry Washington), who is keeping secrets of her own from him.
If you’ve seen any version of this story before, you know that things only get worse from here on out. After their housekeeper Ceci (Adriana Paz) takes their son Denny (Christopher Woodley) and her son Hector (Jacob Estrada) out trick-or-treating, Mark and Abby get a mysterious phone call from a disenfranchised person saying they have kidnapped their son and are demanding $7 million for their return. Emotions are high, maybe a little too high, as Affleck and Washington’s characters spend way too much time yelling at each other instead of taking a breath to process the moment. Each time the phone rings with the mysterious person on the other line making demands, Mark is coming at them at a level 100, which is understandable to a degree, but it gets annoying quickly. Thankfully Yeun, who is largely underutilized in the film, remains calm and calls in “financial advisor” Dayle (Gillian Anderson). Looking and acting effortlessly cool as Anderson always does, Dayle comes in as a no BS kind of woman who knows exactly what steps the Kimballs need to take to get their son back, all while holding leverage over them so that they repay her all the money she’s owed. Seeing her navigate this situation with ease and no stress on her part is an absolute delight to watch.
Of course, things aren’t what they seem in this tale. In other versions, there’s a huge moral dilemma the wealthy family has to face when they learn more about the kidnapping, and it spotlights a classic story of the haves versus the have-nots. Here, things are handled so sloppily. The other people most affected by this situation are Ceci and her partner Ramon (Luis Gerardo Méndez), an undocumented man who is trying to find work. While Abby says to Ceci that they would do anything for her, the micro aggressions are so obvious whenever Ceci tries to mesh the two families or when she tries to get Ramon work, but Abby says it’s not the right time because of Mark’s mayoral bid. Affleck and co-writers Connor O. McIntyre and Billy Ray barely make any effort into making Ceci and Ramon more than just one-dimensional characters, especially their Latino background and their immigration status, and they’re treated as if their story doesn’t matter. For much of the runtime, Ceci and Ramon are essentially sequestered in a bedroom and talking to each other while all the action is taking place elsewhere (Ramon gets to emerge a little later on). In “High and Low” and “Highest 2 Lowest,” the filmmakers shift focus onto the second family so that the audience feels for them and sees how the wealthy family views them when circumstances change. Here, their story is mostly sidelined for a marital dispute between Mark and Abby (which, if anything, gives Affleck and Washington more interesting dialogue to work with), and him thinking about how all of this will impact his campaign. Sidelining Latino characters and their struggles for a white, wealthy politician who is only concerned about his image is certainly a choice — one that is likely the point of this film in order to show just how savage people can be — but it’ll no doubt sit uncomfortably with some viewers.
Even as a political film, this movie doesn’t do much to discuss the issues that Los Angeles faces, such as wealth disparity and immigration. Mark is constantly trying to appeal to Latino voters, but aside from showing off his Spanish language skills, we don’t know what he would do to address their concerns, nor anyone’s for that matter. Additionally, so little is known about the kidnapper — quick shots show they’re in default on bills and in the middle of a divorce — that it takes away the heart of this story, which is often about down-on-their-luck people who want some type of revenge against those who are better off. Los Angeles serves as a great backdrop for that, where you have some of the wealthiest people in Beverly Hills living just a few miles from the Skid Row neighborhood with high rates of homelessness and poverty. But that doesn’t seem important here for whatever reason. Ultimately, there’s too many storylines at play and not enough depth to any of them.
The climax of the film is fairly lackluster, but if there is one thing this film gives us, it’s spinning the truth in a truly insane way for Mark’s mayoral campaign. It might just be the best example of politicians doing anything they can to get people’s votes, and even though it’s not meant to be funny, it plays hilariously (a montage shows what actually happened juxtaposed with with cheerful music, a press conference, and interview with Gayle King). Even though Mark tells his accomplice that they’re a hero, you can see the gears turning in his head on how to make it so that he tells this story in his favor, especially with Latino voters. We don’t know anything about his politics or what he would do for the city, but he’s already lying to residents, so that clearly makes him a great politician. Once again, Ceci and Ramon’s story is rushed, and what happens with them might raise some eyebrows given today’s political climate. In the end, “Animals” is a whole lot of movie with very little nuance. If you come away from this thinking, “I wish that was better,” Kurosawa’s version is there to show you how it’s truly done.
