Boasting the most intriguing title of the year so far, Cocaine Bear is loosely based on the fascinating true story of a wild bear who ingested 15million dollars worth of cocaine thrown from a drug dealers plane.
The actual 1985 story ended with the discovery of the overdosed bears body in a Georgia forest, while infamous drug runner Andrew Thornton, (played briefly here by Matthew Rhys) was later found dead on a suburban driveway after his parachute failed to open. Here, those events are expanded by writer Jimmy Warden into ‘What if the bear went on a drug fuelled killing rampage”.
The result isn’t quite as entertaining as it sounds or the hilarious viral trailer would have you believe.
As the 3rd feature from actress turned director Elizabeth Banks, this is a significant departure from her previous films Pitch Perfect 2 and the 2019 Charlie’s Angels reboot. Billed as a horror comedy the film follows an oddball group of cops, criminals and tourists as they converge on the wonderfully names Chattahoochee national forest in search of the drugs.
Keri Russell leads the cast as a concerned mother in search of her truant daughter, assisted by Park Ranger Margo Martindale, while crims O’Shea Jackson and Alden Ehrenreich hunt for the missing drugs and detective Isiah Whitlock Jnr chases them down. The film also marks the final screen performance of Ray Liotta as drug baron Syd, with an end title card dedicating the film to the late actor.
As good as that line-up is, there is not much in the script for the actors to sink their teeth into, with the films main focus understandably the brilliantly realised CGI bear. It’s in those sequences, as the coked-up predator hunts down the residents of the forest, that the films tongue in cheek horror really finds its groove. While gore hounds will lap up the surprisingly graphic kill scenes, sadly there aren’t enough laughs in the script to warrant the comedy part of the films billing.
Having said that, with Lego movie’s Phil Lord and Chris Miller on board as producers the film does retain an anarchic charm. Mark Mothersbaugh’s ominous score channels retro creature features of the 70’s, whilst a smattering of 80’s pop hits enhance the films absurdist nature. You’ll never listen to Depeche Mode’s ‘Just can’t get enough’ in quite the same way again.
Cocaine Bear is too uneven to live up to the hype generated by its trailer, but as a high concept B movie, it delivers on amusingly demented entertainment.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Paul Steward
@grittster
24/02/23