The days of Sharknado are in the past. Audiences got tired of the literally high concept one-joke movie series that couldn’t exceed the quality of its own title. It’s now the year of low thought titles with: Plane, Quantumania, and now Cocaine Bear. Truly, all the hype you would ever need is that drug-infused title and a subsequent brutal and hilarious trailer.
I love that this movie claims to be based on a true story. The opening scene does show the 3% of this story that is actually true. A drug runner is dropping bags full of cocaine from a cargo plane, most of which land in a forest in Georgia. Enter the titular bear that develops a craving for bags of cartel cocaine and human flesh.
Meanwhile, Keri Russell’s daughter ditches school one day and travels into the forest, right into the path of the rabid bear. Keri traipses into the woods, but won’t be going in alone. She is joined by a park ranger, a nature preservationist, low-level drug runners, punk kids, and cops. Basically, everyone shown here is likely to be Cocaine Bear fodder. It’s almost disappointing when some of them avoid harm.
Elizabeth Banks doesn’t have the best track record with her directorial projects (Charlies Angels, Pitch Perfect 2), but I feel that this movie is a step in the right direction. She’s inherently funny and this tongue-in-cheek feature allows her to be attached to a new fan favorite movie (and potential series).
No one should be expecting anything artistic from a movie called Cocaine Bear. The only reason to see this movie is for the laughs. In that way, it totally succeeds. Seeing this with a large crowd will be the best possible venue to share in the insanity. Yet, the laughs come from the over-the-top violence and gore. Most of the bear attacks are in the first half and each of them deliver. This completely CG bear shows no mercy and there’s no lack of disembodied limbs because of its drug-addled wrath. The ambulance chase is a wonderfully grotesque scene that will have any horror fan guffawing.
The cast is having a good time. They all know what kind of movie they’re in and few of them are taking it overly serious. Ray Liotta, in his final role, is playing the tough crime boss he’s more than used to. Him, playing it straight, as he is kicking away a drug-craving bear, is comical, but also adds to the worst part of the movie.
There’a point in the movie where the bear violence joke has been beat to death and the movie wants us to laugh at the silly situations the characters find themselves in. It basically comes to a dead halt, even with an insanely rushed ending. There’s even a moment where the drug runners mention that they better watch where they step because they don’t want to end up like that mangled hiker. The scene quickly pulls a Family Guy moment where the drug runners trip over the mangled body and scream. It’s so jarring and feels like an afterthought. In fact, the editing for the entire final 30 minutes just had me wishing the movie was over. They so clearly didn’t know how to wrap it up, that they barely reach any conclusion.
Alden Ehrenreich is in a thankless role and is given quite the overindulgent backstory. It’s almost hilarious that the movie tries to bring in any humanity or character arc, in a feature where the audience just wants to see a bear on a warpath. Character journeys are pointless here, and it adds filler when they attempt it.
To answer everyone’s question – Yes, Cocaine Bear is so awesome and so stupid at the same time. It will absolutely make you laugh at how insanely bloody it can be. However, beyond the nose-candy bear carnage, it’s a pretty dull experience. I can’t imagine the humor will have much replay value, but it’s worth seeing once with a big group that is inclined to giggle at purposely dumb things. Bring on Heroin Shark. C
Comments are closed.