Cocaine Bear
As if knife-wielding, psycho Pooh Bears weren’t bad enough, let’s now give them coke.
Cast of Characters:
Sari – Keri Russell
Daveed – O’Shea Jackson, Jr.
Eddie – Alden Ehrenreich
Henry – Christian Convery
Peter – Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Dee Dee – Brooklynn Prince
Bob – Isiah Whitlock, Jr.
Ranger Liz – Margo Martindale
Syd – Ray Liotta
Director – Elizabeth Banks
Writer – Jimmy Warden
Producer – Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Elizabeth Banks, Max Handelman, Brian Duffield & Aditya Sood
Distributor – Universal Pictures
Running Time – 95 minutes
Rated R for bloody violence and gore, drug content and language throughout.
The Rundown: It’s the 1980’s, baby, and cocaine is so all the rage that even bears can’t get enough of it. Or – well, at least one bear, in particular, down in a small Georgia town by the Chattahoochee National Forest. See, a drug smuggler tossed duffel bag after duffel bag stuffed with cocaine into the woods, thus turning that poor American black bear into a struggling cocaine addict.
“In the aaaaaaaarrrrms of an aaaayyngel… fly awaaaay from here…”
Just kidding, the bear survives. Buuuut it is so fucking coked out of its mind, it goes on a rampage, targeting everyone from two kids playing hooky from school, Henry (Christian Convery) and Dee Dee (Brooklynn Prince); Dee Dee’s mom Sari (Keri Russell), who’s searching for her daughter; the local park ranger Liz (Margo Martindale) and wildlife expert Peter (Jesse Tyler Ferguson); and a trio of drug dealers – Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich), Daveed (O’Shea Jackson, Jr.) and Eddie’s dad Syd (Ray Liotta) – who are looking to reclaim their lost stash.
Initial Thoughts: Cocaine Bear marks the second film in just this month of February alone where a bear snaps and kills a bunch of innocent people. First it was Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, where the iconic and beloved children’s character got revenge on Christopher Robin abandoning him and Piglet by slaughtering anyone who dared set foot in the Hundred Acre Wood. Now, we have actress Elizabeth Banks’s third directorial feature about an actual black bear (or as actual as CGI allows) that gets a little taste of that sweet booger sugar, and then – well… slaughters anyone who dares set foot in her woods.
Now, before we go any further, let’s examine the so called “true events” this film claims to be based on. Yes, in 1985, Andrew C. Thornton II, a former narcotics officer and convicted drug smuggler, did, in fact, drop cocaine from the airplane he was piloting due to it carrying too heavy a load. He then jumped out of the plane with a faulty parachute and died. There was also a bear that did, in fact, ingest a reported 40 plastic containers of the Devil’s dandruff. Where Cocaine Bear diverts from the true story is that the real life bear didn’t appear to killed anyone after its cocaine bender, and actually overdosed. But in that moment, a legend was born, and to this day, you can see that legend on display at the Kentucky Fun Mall in Lexington, which named the creature “Cocaine Bear”.
“And it seems to me you lived your life like a candle in the wind…”
Much like Tremors, Snakes on a Plane and Slither, Cocaine Bear is the type of film that’s almost critic proof so long as it accomplishes its one job of unleashing its creature and letting it wreak havoc on the people. As previously detailed, and so often the case with these “Based on true events” films, Banks and her screenwriter Jimmy Warden are definitely leaning heavily on artistic license here. And, boy, is it one hell of a thrill ride because of it.
The Good: Cocaine Bear knows exactly what it is and, for the most part, doesn’t aim to be anything more than that from the moment it opens with Jefferson Starship’s “Jane” blasting in the background (one of a number of retro ’70-80s needle drops throughout the film). Not that self-awareness alone guarantees success. These kind of films still need to have some level of craft, otherwise you have the Sharknado series – films that may know they’re bad, but they’re really bad at trying to be bad. Thankfully, Banks (who knows a thing or two about these kinds of films, having co-starred in the aforementioned Slither) brings a great deal of competent filmmaking to the highly absurd proceedings. Admittedly, I haven’t been the biggest fan of Banks’s directorial work up until now. The Pitch Perfect franchise is mediocre at best, and the recent Charlie’s Angels reboot was disappointingly lackluster. I gotta hand it to her here, though, ’cause she definitely gets the kind of gnarly, maniacal, blood-spewing, limb-tearing tone this film needs. While Cocaine Bear has, arguably, maybe one or two characters and story threads too many, once the proverbial shit hits the fan, Banks keeps things moving in darkly hilarious, briskly paced fashion.
Without spoiling anything, there’s an intense extended sequence involving the bear squaring off against a team of EMTs that, among other fantastic sequences, wins the film’s MVP set piece. Set to Depeche Mode’s “Just Can’t Get Enough” (again, kudos to Banks on the peppy soundtrack choices), just that scene alone is almost worth the price of admission. Trust me, what they show of that scene in the trailer is just the tip of the iceberg.
I hope Margo Martindale’s stunt double was compensated well.
Another reason this film plays so well is due to the cast embracing its absurdity. Whether it’s Keri Russell (totally rocking the bright pink track suit), the aforementioned Martindale, O’Shea Jackson, Jr., Alden Ehrenreich, Modern Family’s Jesse Tyler Ferguson (who’s dopey mop-top wig should’ve been billed as its own character) and the late, great Ray Liotta (in a fitting callback to his role as cocaine-loving mobster Henry Hill from Goodfellas), everyone throws themselves into the nutty material, bringing an appropriate amount of camp, while still taking the titular threat seriously. In addition to the talented acting veterans, child actors Christian Convery and Brooklynn Prince are equally good as best pals who first get caught in the middle of the bear’s rampage. The two score a scene-stealing moment where they stumble upon the predator’s stash and pretend they have the slightest clue what to do with it as they scoop up teaspoons of blow for themselves like it’s ice cream.
Scarface would be impressed.
I’d also be remiss to not mention Banks’s team of effects artists from Weta FX for their work on the bear, a combination of high-tech CGI and Allan Henry’s motion capture performance. Reportedly, a good portion of the film’s production budget went toward the creation of the animal, and it’s definitely money well spent. Of course, the end game for this film is humor; however, much of that humor is derived from the terror brought by the omnivorous threat, so the top-notch effects work goes a long way in marrying the film’s morbid sense of humor with an effective sense of tension.
The Bad: The film starts to lose a little bit of momentum in the third-act when it diverts away from the bear mayhem to focus on a stand-off between the human characters and their half-baked conflicts. While the actors keep things afloat during the bear’s absence, and Liotta brings a credibly threatening presence to his role, those particular conflicts aren’t nearly as interesting nor as fun as when the bear is going off the rails.
Thankfully, the bear does return and all becomes right with the world. No one comes to see Cocaine Bear expecting it to be an existential metaphor about humans battling other humans. This is inarguably the most literal film title we’ll get this whole year.
The Ugly: Can’t wait for the inevitable spin-offs. Don’t be let down by the depressing vibe of Heroin Tiger, ’cause Bath Salts Jaguar provides a ride so wild it’ll rip your face off.
Consensus: Cocaine Bear may start coming down from its high during the final act, but a game cast and exciting first two acts more than make up for that with plenty of the type of gonzo, bat-shit fun you expect from a film whose star is a coke-snorting bear.
Silver Screen Fanatic’s Verdict: I give Cocaine Bear a B+ (★★★).
About Post Author
