Strangely, Animals is the second streaming remake of Akira Kirsosawa’s High and Low in the last 13 months, but I think it gets more right in its adaptation of the source material than the more high-profile Spike Lee joint, Highest 2 Lowest. To reiterate: a wealthy family has their son kidnapped only to discover the kidnapper has taken the wrong boy, a child of one of the servants on the payroll. Will they continue to pay a hefty ransom for a child that isn’t even theirs? How much are they willing to risk their finances, security, and reputation now? It’s a juicy premise, and I’m glad that director/co-writer/star Ben Affleck knows how to wring some heightened drama from the predicament. He plays an independent candidate for L.A. mayor who has leveraged his family’s fortunes to the point they have little to pay a ransom. On top of that, the kidnapped child is from an undocumented Mexican employee, which would be a bad look for him politically, or so we’re told. Adding to the intrigue is a shady fixer character played with an enigmatic chill by Gillian Anderson. She has an exorbitant fee but the connections to do the rough stuff if it comes to it, which provides a temptation of how far is too far and whether this is a person you want to be in debt with. The presence of Anderson as a fixer above it all and the extra level of methodical menace she brings compensates for the lackluster villains. The storylines bumping up against the central kidnapping can feel like an obtrusive nosy neighbor, especially Kerry Washington as the wife who is having her own affair that goes nowhere. The mystery behind who the kidnappers are and their reasoning is a dead-end without having a meaningful point for its emptiness. There are also stretches that seem like Affleck really wanted to show off his Spanish speaking he learned during his second stint with Jennifer Lopez. The intensity of the drama can also feel a little too cranked up at points, with swinging 360-degree camera spins and volume levels stuck on shouting to the rafters. Visually, it’s also pretty uninspiring, and the few thriller set piece sequences are staged with minimal complications and too many drone shots. It’s a shock considering Affleck also gave us The Town and Argo and certainly knows how to craft an excellent suspense sequence. Of all the Affleck directorial efforts, Animals is certainly the weakest and the most plain in appearance and staging, and yet critics make it seem like an offense to good taste. I found it passed the time relatively easily, and while the acting can be overwrought, I still enjoyed the star-studded cast going for gusto, even for lines like, “I want you to f*** your wife.” Maybe we’re all animals after all (hey, wait a sec…).

Nate’s Grade: C+