Rating: C+
Director: Roel Reiné
Stars: Brendan Michael Coughlin, Patrick Scott Lewis, Mary Alexandra Stiefvater, Katie Lowes
There are a lot of bad reviews of this, many of which criticize, for example, the “unpleasant characters and a stupid story.” I’m not inclined to disagree with that assessment. Except, those are precisely the reasons why I kinda enjoyed this. It’s not often you get to see a cross between a wilderness survival flick and an episode of Jerry Springer. OK, that isn’t the kind of bizarre genre crossover you’d want to watch on a regular basis. As a one-off though, I had fun. Two brothers, each with their other halves, are on the way to a dinner with Dad, when a supposed short-cut is followed by car trouble, leaving the four stranded.
A young bear shows up, and is met by obnoxious older sibling, Sam the stockbroker (Lewis) unloading an entire clip into it. Problem solved… until Papa Bear shows up and rolls the car over, trapping the quartet inside. Younger brother Nick (Coughlin), an aspiring rock musician, believes this is personal. He thinks the animal is intent on taking revenge for the ursicide, citing native folklore which says animals can feel emotion. Sam rejects this, but since he used all his ammo in the cub, his judgment is clearly suspect. As the night wears on and escape attempts prove futile, tensions mount. Especially after Sam’s wife Liz (Stiefvater) announces she is pregnant – and the father might not necessarily be her husband. Where’s a paternity test when you need one?
Between the disagreeable characters and the initial set-up, it feels as if you might be intended to root for the bear. In that, its closest cousin might be Orca, though especially at the end, Reiné does appear to be ramping up the mystical elements, imbuing the creature with human or maybe superhuman traits. For instance, after Sam tries to run for help, the bear doesn’t kill him, but drags Sam back to the car. This is either, “So that he could kill all of us together” (Sam), or because, “That bear knows more about us than we do ourselves” (Nick). I’m not certain which makes less sense: neither sit well with the familial soap-opera unfolding inside the vehicle.
Bonus points for the presence of Lowes as Nick’s girlfriend Christine, whom Chris recognized from her role, a couple of years later, as Quinn Perkins in Scandal. Shame she couldn’t call in Olivia Pope here, to make that face at the bear. I did think Reiné handled the attack sequences quite well, combining a real bear (played by one called Blue) with a man in a suit, to decent effect. Nice to see him doing something other than direct-to-video sequels too. This worked best for me when embracing its inner loopiness, although sadly, the moment where it looked like it was about to turn into a Cocaine Bear prequel, did not go anywhere. Amusingly daft, it is at least attempting something a bit different from the norm.