BEAST OF WAR (2025)
Label: Well Go USA
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 87 Minutes 25 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround, 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.39:1)
Director: Kiah Roache-Turner
Cast: Mark Coles Smith, Joel Nankervis, Maximillian Johnson, Lee Tiger Halley, Sam Parsonson, Tristan McKinnon, Sam Delich
You can always count on Australians to come up with some terrific gems when it comes to the animal-attack sub-genre, whether it's a killer-croc in Black Water or Rogue, man-eating sharks in The Reef, or the wild boar terror of Razorback, the Aussie's just know how to tackle it, and they do so quite often, much to my happiness. Enter a new contender in the sub-genre, from director Kiah Roache-Turner (Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead, Sting), a WWII meets Jaws mash-up that is taught, tense and terrifying, based on the true story of the sinking of the HMAS Armidale in the Timor Sea. The film opens on dry lands in 1942 as military recruits are put through the rigors of bootcamp, where we meet the bulk of the cast, who are being put through their paces, building bonds and developing rivalries, including the Indigenous Leo (Mark Coles Smith, Oicnic at Hanging Rock TV Series) who during a training exercise rescues Will (Joel Nankervis, Dark Arcadia), a white soldier who nearly drowns in mud pit if it were not for the aid of Leo, immediately forming a bond, on the end f the spectrum we have the racist Des (Sam Delich, Christmas Bloody Christmas), who despises Leo because of the color of his skin, viewing him as someone who beneath himself.
After boot camp they are shipped out, their ship is hit by Japanese planes somewhere in the Timor Sea, and sunk quickly. With the ship taking on water and going down fast Leo once again saves an unconscious Will, the two find themselves on a large piece of floating debris, the surface is littered with floating, fiery debris and the corpses of their mates. Eventually other survivors find their way to the makeshift raft, including Sam, Teddy (Lee Tiger Halle, Boy Swallows Universe), Thompson (Sam Parsonson, Hacksaw Ridge), Stan (Maximillian Johnson, Fear Below) and Bobby (Tristan McKinnon, Wyrmwood: Apocalypse)
The young Australian troop find themselves clinging for life on the raft as a fog bank rolls in them around them, hundred if not thousands of miles from anywhere, not only confronting the situation at hand, but infighting, enemy attacks, but a 20-foot great white shark attracted by the blood and corpses in the water! That's just a great set-up for a shark attack flick, its not quite the USS Indianapolis story as told by Quint in Spielberg's Jaws, but its pretty close.
At just 87-minutes long this is a shark attack flick that moves along, it's storytelling is well-crafted, tense, and taught, there's no fat on this one. We get flashback to a traumatic shark attack Leo experiences years earlier that haunts him still, inform, the happening here, and there's a last-ditch chance for salvation via a lifeboat, that is just out f reach with the shark always cruising nearby, and of course human complications like racism, fear, and one of the soldiers having a headwound that is the impotence for some foolish decisions that put everyone at risk. I also loved the practical effects, including the life-size shark, which looks gnarly, I mean real scary shot, and some gory practical effects including shark-attack carnage and the bloody human detritus of explosive ordinance set off in error. The film looks terrific, dark and moody, wafts of sea fog making recue unlikely, the looks of the calm ocean waters littered with burning wreckage and corpses, and the attacks are staged with maximum suspense and tension. At a certain point the shark ends up with an air raid siren lodged in its dorsal fin, which has the effect of announcing it's arrival tot he guys, its been damaged and has a slightly horrific sound, it's a cool idea, but I don't think it works as well as intended, felling like a bit an homage to Tick-Tock the Crocodile from Peter Pan. There's also a couple of sequences wherein a Japanese pilot fires upon the soldiers clinging to the raft only to be shot down, his plane splashing down nearby, only for the pilot to find his own floatation device and attempt to finish off the Australians, which at least pays off with a bad-ass moment of self-sacrifice and spectacular explosion - again, probably not as cool as it sounded while writing it, but still pretty cool.
There are a shit-ton of cheap, low-rent, cookie-cutter shark attack flicks out there, sometimes it's hard to find the prime chunks among chum, but make no mistake, Beast of War is absolute gem, the Aussie's have done it again!
Audio/Video: Beast of War (2025) arrives on Blu-ray from Well Go USA in 1080p HD widescreen, and it looks quite solid, colors are nicely saturated, depth and clarity are strong, black levels are deep. There were a few moments of banding, but otherwise quite a pleasing HD presentation, audio comes by way of of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo or 5.1 Surround with optional English subtitles. The track is nicely immersive and impactful with a solid low-end during the more action-packed sequences, and the higher registers fair well, too. The only extras sadly is a selection of Well Go USA trailers, would have loved a commentary from the director, this is his best film to date, or some interviews with the cast and crew, or a BTS featurette so I could see the sets they were shooting on and that animatronic shark in it's full glory. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided wrap and a Slipcover with the same artwork.
Special Features:
- Well Go USA Trailers
Screenshots from the Well Go USA Blu-ray:
Buy it!
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