COCAINE BEAR (REVIEW)

Dir. Elizabeth Banks

Reviewer. Ben Anderson

For horror fans, the thought of a cocaine heavy bear trawling through a group of blended characters and watching them fight for survival is literally nothing new. Akin to JAWS, LAKE PLACID, ANACONDA and GODZILLA, COCAINE BEAR has something none of the above have... Cocaine.

What's more is that Elizabeth Banks has rafted in some of the biggest names in Hollywood with Keri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich, O'Shea Jackson Jr. and Ray Liotta in his last acting role serving as an unusual but fitting bookend to a fantastic career. All this based on a true event that surely would make it Oscar fodder in 2024.

Inspired by the 1985 true story of a drug runner's plane crash, missing cocaine, and the black bear that ate it, this wild dark comedy finds an oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists and teens converging in a Georgia forest where a 500-pound apex predator has ingested a staggering amount of cocaine and gone on a coke-fuelled rampage for more blow and blood. Ok, there maybe won't be an Oscar nomination.

The thing about COCAINE BEAR is it's basis in the reality of an event that actually occurred however, much like FARGO, the actual events are more of a core idea than a running thread as the team behind this year's most ridiculously entertaining movie must have been high to release this to a studio. One thing is for sure, COCAINE BEAR deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible, with the biggest crowd possible.

COCAINE BEAR doesn't hold back with the gore, something a mainstream release usually has difficulty handling but hear the balance of humour and gore will have you grimacing and wincing in equal measure.

If you go down to the cinema today, you're in for a big surprise. Imagine TUCKER AND DALE VERSUS EVIL meets WINNIE THE POOH on crack!