Who Cares About Characterization When You Have A High Apex Predator?: Cocaine Bear (2023) - Reviewed

Images courtesy Universal Pictures

There’s something perfect about a movie that knows exactly what it is and doesn’t try to be what it’s not. A fictionalized account of a bear that found cocaine in a national forest in Georgia can run wild with its premise and not take itself too seriously. It can create ridiculous set pieces and deliver some darkly comic bits that to deliver on its title.

And that’s just what Cocaine Bear (2023) does. It’s a crowd pleaser that knows what its here for, and it doesn’t veer off its mission for anything like characterization, sparkling dialogue, or cinematography.

In 1985, kilos of cocaine were actually tossed from an airplane into a national forest in Georgia for drug smugglers to pick up. A bear did find that cocaine, consume some, and then kill some people. The rest of what happens on screen is thanks to a creative imagination of Elizabeth Banks, her fourth time directing a feature-length film, and screenwriter Jimmy Warden.

An assortment of characters end up in this forest for various reasons along with a coked out black bear and her cubs. Each of the characters gets about a minute of characterization on screen before getting pulled into the mayhem. So many of these characters play their typecast selves: Keri Russell as a badass mom; Alden Erhenreich as a conscientious shady character; Isaiah Whitlock Jr. as a police detective; Jesse Tyler Ferguson as an awkward animal expert; Margo Martindale as a salty, Southern park ranger; O’Shea Jackson Jr. as a drug runner who loves his sports jersey; and Ray Liotta as a weathered criminal.

Each actor plays their role to satisfaction, though viewers could be let down that there’s no room for them to be more than their one-dimensional characters. The viewer might also be hoping for a crowd-pleasing callback of Whitlock Jr. reprising his most famous line from The Wire. But he doesn’t.

The movie is a brief 95 minutes, and a fuller story (possibly with more character development) is missing. The slashing and clawing away of extra scenes is evident, leaving just the bare-bone connective tissue to help connect one scene to the next. However, this trimmed down version focuses more on what any viewer most likely wants to see: a cocaine bear! This movie’s strength is its ridiculous premise.

Lots of blood gets splattered around, but most of the extremely graphic violence happens behind bushes or just off screen. Taking its cue from Jurassic Park, screaming and rustling inside bushes indicate a bear attack that is oft completed when a bloody, severed foot is tossed in front of a horrified character. Still, there are a couple brutal deaths to satisfy horror fans.

The film contains a ‘In Loving Memory of Ray Liotta’ before the credits. Another layer of dark comedy would be added if this ended up being Liotta’s final film. But it wasn’t. He had another film completed and two others in post-production beyond this.

Cocaine Bear is currently in theaters.

Eric Beach