THE BEAST (1988)
Label: Imprint Films
Region Code: Region Free
Duration: 110 Minutes
Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Kevin Reynolds
Cast: George Dzundza, Steven Bauer, Jason Patric, Stephen Bauer, Stephen Baldwin, Erick Avari, Chaim Jeraffi
Set in 1981 Kevin Reynolds' criminally underrated The Beast (1988) takes place in Afghanistan during the Soviet's war in that country, with a Soviet tank unit led by Commander Daskal (George Dzundza, Massage Parlor Murders) rolling into a Pashtun village suspected of harboring mujahideen rebel fighters and mercilessly laying waste to it. The Soviets indiscriminately bombard it with shell-fire, setting structures on fire with flamethrowers, and going so far as to poison the villages well-water with cyanide - which leads to unintended casualties later. A mujahideen fighter is captured but when he refuses to give up any strategic information Daskal orders him to be gruesomely run over with the tread of a tank, feet first. The unit having decimated the village head out, but Daskal's tank crew, the last to leave the area, makes a wrong turn at a fork in the road and they end up in a blind valley with no exit in hostile territory
Taj (Steven Bauer, Raising Cain), a survivor whose brother was killed during the attack on their village, vows revenge and pursues the tank, which they dub 'The Beast', with other members of the mujahideen, including his opportunistic cousin Moustafa (Chaim Jeraffi, Waterworld). Inside the tank we have the increasingly mental Daskal and his lower-ranking tankers, Anatoli (Stephen Baldwin, The Usual Suspects) and Kaminski (Donald Patrick Harvey, Creepshow 2). and the tank driver Konstantin (Jason Patric, The Lost Boys, Nightbreed), plus a communist Afghani translator named Samad (Erick Avari, The Mummy).
The film follows the parallel stories of both groups, the Soviets soldiers and the Mujahadeen fighters, as we get to see the group dynamic within both as things begin to crumble in various way for both sides. The moral of the story is that there are no good men in a rotten war, though the film unquestionably is asking you to root for the Afghan fighters, which is an odd ask in this post-9/11 world, but it works.
As the film moves along the mujahadeen close in and Daskal's men begin to question his decision making skills as he begins to crack-up under mounting pressures. During fighting the tank begins to leak oil, once they realize this they know it's headed for the junk pile, but the commander refuses to throw in the towel, even passing up an opportunity to fly himself and his men to safety via helicopter at one point, apparently too proud to admit defeat, even at the expense of his own life and that of his men. Konstantin is set up early as the conscience of the group, and when Daskal murders Samad in cold-blood it's Konstantin who voices his concern, threatening to report the incident, but Daskal orders the weaker-willed Anatoli and Kaminski tie him to a rock and leave him for dead. The figure that if the wild dogs don't get him first the mujahedeen or the brutal desert elements will finish him off, and just in case that doesn't work they booby trap him with hand grenade placed delicately under his head.
What they don't figure on is that the mujahadeen not only don't kill Konstantin, but thanks to the a Pashtun custom called "nanawatai", which requires that even an enemy is to be given sanctuary if requested, something he learned from Samad before his death. As they say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and while they make strange bedfellows and the other mujahadeen fighters are against it, Taj and Konstantin come to terms and join forces to track down and kill "The Beast" with a Soviet made RPG-7 that they have recovered.
Director Kevin Reynolds' Soviet era war story is criminally underrated, the underseen war story is an absolute gem but upon it's initial release it was buried, and there's lots more about why that in the fantastic feature-length making-of doc on the disc. The gripping feature was shot in Israel, a solid stand-on for Afghanistan to my untrained eye, the locations looks harsh and gorgeous, with desert scenes shot in the natural golden light of the sun, which makes for an unforgettable backdrop to the claustrophobic tale of madness, revenge and the horror of war. Across the board we have fantastic performances, with Jason Patric, George Dzundza, and Steven Bauer doing a lot of the heavier lifting, with a special mention of Erick Avari in a pivotal role that turns the tide of the film.
One thing that took a bit of adjustment is that the Soviet characters are played with American English, there's no accent or an attempt at Russian, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother the first time I saw this years ago, but I came around to it. That's really the only trifling complaint I have about the entire film. An aspect of it that I liked a lot was the motif off the slaughtered village's vengeful women are also pursuing The Beast on their own, which I'd forgotten about till they resurface at the end, turning their grief into stone as they say.
Audio/Video: The Beast (1988) debuts on region-free Blu-ray from Imprint Films in 1080p HD widescreen (1.78:1). There's no mention of a this being a new scan or what the source is but this looks to me to be an older existing HD master. The source shows blemishes by way of speckling, nicks and a stray faint scratches every now and again. Grain looks clumpy in a few scenes as well, it's a serviceable presentation but lacks the punchier visuals and more refined look a newer scan would have afforded it. Details is modest and looks a tad waxy to my eyes, those skin pores and wrinkles in the close-ups are muted, and shadow detail is clipped, but the subdued colors of the harsh desert environments looks accurate throughout.
Audio comes by way of English LPCM 2.0 stereo with optional English subtitles, it's a solid track, while it's now wowsville it is clean and dialogue and the Mark Isham (The Hitcher) score sound good, and the explosions and gunfire throughout have a nice piercing quality to them.
There are only two extras on the disc, but it's all about quality over quantity this time folks. The centerpiece is the 122-minute Nanawatai!: Inside The Beast, a feature-length making-of documentary produced by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures, who also did the excellent Waterworld doc, which was also directed by Reynolds, for Arrow Video's Blu-ray release. It's a stunning piece of work that runs over two hours long, we get brand new video interviews with executive producer Dale Pollock, director Kevin Reynolds, actors Sean Patrick and Don Reynolds, composer Mark Isham, plus audio interviews with screenwriter William Mastrosimone, editor Peter Boyle, actor Steven Bauer, and military advisor Capt. Dale Dye USMC. Needless to say, at over two-hours in length it digs deep into the making of the film; starting off with adapting the original stage bound play into a film with scope, the casting process (which included turning down big names like Kevin Costner and Christopher Plummer), shooting in Israel using Israeli crews who worked for Golan and Globus of Cannon Films. Also covered is the extreme boot camp the actors endured to turn them into proper Soviet tankers, the difficulty securing the tanks for the film, building the Pashtun village from scratch, the weaponry, the grueling shoot in the sunbaked desert, and specifics of particular scenes like how they shot the mujahedeen soldier being crushed by the tank treads, plus some of the stunt work issues (with a reference to the tragic Twilight Zone: The Movie helicopter incident), and how they shot the tank interiors. We also get some great conversation about the construction of the score (which is terrific), and the studio's reaction to the initial screening after the studio chief who greenlit the film was replaced, and how his replacement freaked out about subtitled languages. They disliked it so much in fact that they chose to actively not market it and buried it with a tint roll out in favor of the more lucrative and commercial Rambo 3, which also took place in Afghanistan. The doc also features loads of behind-the0scenes images and storyboards. We also get a brand new Audio Commentary with Author David J. Moore who gives a good talk along, commentating what's happening onscreen and digging a bit deeper into the themes and character arcs, the production and the reception.
The single-disc release arrives in a sturdy oversized clear keepcase with a two-sided, non-reversible sleeve of artwork. The first 1500 copies also come with a great looking Limited Edition Slipcase with it's own unique artwork, being the original illustrated movie poster artwork, which is also featured on the Blu-ray disc.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Author David J. Moore
- Nanawatai!: Inside The Beast - Feature-length Documentary (122 min)
- Limited Edition slipcase on the first 1500 copies with unique artwork
Screenshots from the Imprint Films Blu-ray Review:
