THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
This small world has been documented with stories that are difficult to believe when speaking aloud. And sometimes, they gotta be fictionalized to get everybody’s attention.
PLOT
Cocaine Bear takes place in 1985. Drug smuggler Andrew C Thornton II (Matthew Rhys) would drop a shipment of cocaine from a plane but on his way out in an attempt to parachute, he would knock himself unconscious and fall to his death. With his body landing in Knoxville, Tennessee, Detective Bob suspects that the rest of the drugs came from St Louis’ kingpin Syd White while the rest are missing. The remainder of the drugs are in Chattahoochee, Georgia, and in the area are Sari McKindry and her daughter Deirdra aka Dee Dee. The latter skips school with her friend Henry to paint a picture of the falls in the forest. They don’t get this opportunity when they get attacked by a black bear whose consumed most of the cocaine. Sari goes searching for her daughter when she finds out she didn’t go to school. She gets help from Ranger Liz and wildlife activist Peter (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) to look for her. They do find Henry first who explains what he saw. Just when he mentions the bear, it injures Liz and kills Peter. As that happens, Sari and Henry follow a trail of paint left behind by Dee Dee on where the bear took her. Back in St. Louis, Syd has his son Eddie (grieving over his dead wife) and fixer Daveed to retrieve the drugs. When they get to Georgia, Daveed gets attacked by three teen delinquents who call themselves the ‘Duchamps’: Stache (Aaron Holiday), Ponytail (Leo Hanna) & Vest (JB Moore) but he would beat them in self defense. When he sees that one had a package of cocaine on him, he demands Stache to take him to where he hid it. As they leave with Eddie, Ponytail & Vest encounter Liz who returns to her station for help. However, she accidentally shoots Ponytail in the head when trying to kill the bear. The animal would continue its drug fueled bloodshed by killing Vest as well. When paramedics Beth (Kahyun Kim) & Tom (Scott Seiss) arrive, they and Liz also get killed. Stache takes Daveed & Eddie to the gazebo where he last stashed it, but they would find themselves held at gunpoint by Bob from above who was able to find the drugs first off of a hunch. He shoots Daveed’s fingers, but everyone would be at a treaty when the bear appears. The bear would briefly fall asleep on Eddie, only for it to wake up and consume more cocaine, which leaves everyone in shock. Bob would get the animal to leave by throwing the duffle bag of drugs from afar, which gives him the chance to resume his focus on apprehending Daveed & Eddie. He is stopped by Syd who shoots him and arrives to retrieve the drugs himself. Eddie is solely focused on bailing on the mission not only for being in shock of what he saw, but also understandably upset that his dad left his own son Gabe (George Kerslate) unattended in St. Louis. Syd ignores the plea to leave because his superiors are demanding him to retrieve the drugs. Bob would be disappointed that fellow officer Reba (Ayoola Smart) is on Syd’s payroll, but he would die laughing knowing that the kingpin is putting himself in more danger for planning to take the remaining drugs from the bear. Sari & Henry would reach the end of Dee Dee’s paint trail and at that point, they find the cave where she is hiding. Before going in, they are warned by a hiker named Olaf (Kristofer Hivju) that it’s dangerous to go inside since he lost wife to the beast. By the time they go in, he would be a victim as well. Sari & Henry do reunite with Dee Dee, but would be in shock to see the bear’s two cubs digest cocaine as well. When they try to leave, they find themselves at a ledge behind the falls. Sud’s group shows up as well, but White would hold them at gunpoint. When the bear returns to the falls, Sari and the kids jump into the water safely. Eddie & Daveed would do the same to cut their ties with Syd. They would also encourage Reba to walk away from him. Refusing to leave empty handed, White would try to shoot the bear to take the drugs. When he fails, the mother and her cubs would disembowel him. When Eddie & Daveed return to their car to head back to St. Louis, they adopt Bob’s dog that was given to them by Reba. The film would end with Sari walking home with the kids and Stache hitchhiking to New York with a spare duffle bag of cocaine.
THOUGHTS
I was extremely hesitant about checking this out because the trailer shocked me to the point where I wasn’t sure if I’m supposed to take this serious. I came around because I realized I’m not supposed to. By the time I got out of the theater, I’m glad to admit this was hella fun. Director Elizabeth Banks and Writer Jimmy Warden were able to create something where you gotta let the imagination take control and it thankfully works. You can look at it as an adventure for all the storylines that are followed. It has its horror elements for what the threat is while also being comedic for its delivery. In reality, the actual bear famously nicknamed ‘Pablo Esko-Bear’ overdosed minutes before it could harm anyone. But partially speaking, the whole point of the story gives a perspective saying what if the bear were to surviving the amount of drugs it consumed. The movie even opens with a Wikipedia quote to prove it won't take itself serious. Now when the imagination does the talking, you’re able to take the movie however you want and be able to enjoy it more. It’s definitely scary when the bear sheds it’s trail of blood, yet it’s also hilarious knowing how high on life it gets. The bear even snorted a line of coke off of a severed leg which further proves the point. Having said that, I can see it both ways when it chases an ambulance. Since it ain’t easy to work with actual animals, I was generally impressed on how the creature looked via CGI as it looked realistic enough for me to be onboard. Now apart from the titular star stealing every scene it was in, I become more surprised when catching on to its relatable theme. Ironically, there is heart that explores the theme of family. Yes, this theme hits harder than the Fast Saga. It is trying to tell us that you can't take your family for granted because you can't guarantee the lengths they'll go to prove they love you. Brooklynn Prince's Dee Dee and Christian Convery's Henry were two kids that definitely took things for granted when skipping school on the worst day possible. They even make the mistake of trying cocaine and encountering the same bear who got to it first. The second that beast sneezed, they knew they were in deep trouble. While Henry was lucky to avoid the animal as long as he could until someone came, Dee Dee thought ahead and used her brain to leave a trail behind. She never intended to encounter a wild animal, but she knew someone would find her when lost. Luckily, she got the best mom she could ask for out of Sari. Keri Russell easily makes us like her for being straightforward loving and determined to save the kids from danger. She may not have been equipped to take on a bear, but I doubt she wouldn't try. With Sari's arc being the positive approach on not taking family for granted, you get the total opposite on Syd's end. The late Ray Liotta quickly makes him despicable for portraying him as pure selfish and impatient to get things done. He was never meant to be a parent in his line of work and he should've known that long before he conceived Eddie. He acted such an idiot to hold Sari and the kids at gunpoint because it's not like they would take it for themselves. Thankfully, the future of his bloodline became nothing like him. Alden Ehrenreich showed Eddie to have a surprisingly bigger heart than others around him. The only thing he wanted was to be happy and he was losing it when his wife died of cancer. And from the beginning, he knew he didn't need to impress his dad to be so. He chose to go find the coke because he was trying to change the mind of his only friend. O'Shea Jackson Jr. showed Daveed as a guy willing to do anything to get by and was tough enough to impress Syd. It was harder for him to get out because he got too comfy, but being in the middle of Syd and Eddie is where he had to draw the line because he finally caught on to who was right and wrong. The second you know the difference, you got to know you which side you want to be on. Thankfully, he made the right call jumping with Eddie. If I'm being honest, I was laughing more than I should when the dog ate his fingers because now it'll look weird when he raises his hand with two missing fingers. Even before that, I was laughing that not only Stache took the last duffle, but also ensured he had it on him instead of the trunk full of goats. I found that hilarious because in this film's universe, there is no telling if they would react similarly to what the bear did. On top of that, I felt so bad for Eddie when the bear fell asleep on him because I'm aware that those animals are supposed to heavy (90-180lbs for females). While those arcs cross over in impressive fashion, there were still other characters that kept things interesting. Isiah Whitlock Jr. easily made me adore Bob for being true to his honor and refuses to let bad things go over his head, even though that sadly happens when Reba betrays him. Even though he couldn't stop Syd and turn over the drugs to his superiors, at least he died a hero for his efforts. On the other hand, I did think his entire reaction to the bear consuming the coke was priceless because you find yourself relating to the scenario. You know something crazy is about to happen and you can't help wondering how it's gonna look. Last but not least, I was very impressed Margo Martindale as a whole. She left a good impression on playing Liz because although she can't help it being a helpless romantic, as she crushed over Peter, that doesn't mean she won't take her job serious when the drama occurs. Before Syd had his grisly end, she definitely had it worse when her body slingshots out of the ambulance due to being strapped on a stretcher which scratches her face by the time she hits the pavement, leading to her dying from the blood loss. I find that worse than the paramedics crashing into the tree thanks to the bear. I even feel bad she didn't even get noticed by Sari when she passed by her corpse by sunrise. I’ve given enough leeway with this movie to enjoy it, but there were so much stuff I still couldn’t understand. I can ignore the majority of things involving the bear, but the humans had their moments I couldn’t ignore. I know Thornton was nuts to get involved in drug dealing, but he makes the plan too complicated. You're parachuting into the woods and have to look around to find all bags he threw out of the plane. That is miles of groundwork and the main characters are lucky to not have that much of an effort to run into it. Moving on, I'm glad Olaf doesn't take too long to notice the bear is acting out differently, but it's odd how Elsa doesn't pay attention to it banging its head on the tree because it ain't easy to not pay attention to a wild animal. And how did Syd not get a babysitter before he left? If he really didn’t want to be involved in watching Gabe, he should’ve done that from the get-go. And Dee Dee should've told Henry to hide the backpack from a window view. If the whole point of not telling him was to get her mom to find her before even knowing about the bear, that should've been clear. Bob was pretty smart for the most part, but it’s crazy how he missed the broken glass. The little things always matter and although the priority was searching for the coke, imagine how lucky if he’d be if he got to save Liz from the bear. I know the Doochamps are idiots, but they’re top tier idiots for carrying the coke with them especially when they encounter Daveed. They could’ve put it down and hid it before they jumped him. Speaking of which, I was so thrown off with a wild continuity error, how we don't see the knife hit Daveed's shoulder when he was wailing those teens. And how did he notice the cocaine package after kicking their ass? I would've noticed it when piling them up. Of all the things I have to say about the bear, why does it take so long to eat Peter? If it's attracted to the smell of cocaine, as proven when later encountering Daveed, it should've not let him go before he went up the tree especially when he fell into the duffel bag. I also think Liz should’ve gotten closer to the door before trying to shoot the bear. If she didn’t want anyone else to get hurt on accident, getting closer would’ve prevented that. That ambulance chase was awesome, but parademic Beth should've left the vehicle and trap the bear to make a run for it. If there is anything that was the deepest in confusing, I gotta say it would be how Daveed got shot and lost two fingers in between. I mean I really wish there was an explanation on how that became possible. Seeing that happen was more shocking than Henry still holding to his championship by the time he jumped into the waterfall. And let's be honest, Syd was screwed once Thornton died because there was no way he was gonna get every penny's worth. We don't even see him do drugs and he's still stupid to think getting the remains of the coke to better the chances of satisfying his employers. I am not a drug dealer, but even I would've dealt with consequences at that point. It's more pointless of a decision than making Reba unreasonably crooked. Other than that, this is still quite an entertaining film. In short, Cocaine Bear is one of 2023’s biggest surprises for letting loose on its concept which pays off in the long run. You want something that makes crazy look fun? See this now.
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