Animals

How far will a politician go to win an election? That’s a valid and intriguing question that Animals doesn’t address with much conviction.

This dramatically flat thriller from director Ben Affleck builds moderate tension despite a formulaic premise and a series of progressively far-fetched twists. However, it struggles to provide fresh and meaningful insight in scrutinizing the toxicity of contemporary politics.

Affleck stars as Mark Kimball, who on the surface is an idealistic Los Angeles mayoral candidate in a world where nice guys indeed usually finish last.

Trying to follow in the political footsteps of his late father, he’s burdened by that legacy while becoming tempted to risk everything as he trails in polls with only a few days remaining.

On Halloween, Mark prepares to head to a campaign event when his cell phone rings, with an anonymous caller saying that his young son (Christopher Woodley) has been abducted while trick-or-treating with their housekeeper (Adriana Paz).

Cracks had been exposed in his family’s idyllic suburban facade even before the outside interference. Mark and his campaign manager (Steven Yeun) have drained the family’s savings on the campaign without telling Mark’s wife, Abigail (Kerry Washington), whose eyes have been wandering.

With the kidnappers demanding a $7 million ransom in short order, the couple hires a high-profile negotiator (Gillian Anderson) without assuring she’s completely trustworthy.

Amid the resulting quandary, everyone involved seems more interested in selfishly playing the blame game than the fate of the missing child. How will they get the money? Who is the perpetrator? How will they spin this to the public? And most importantly, how will this affect poll numbers?

Unfolding like an interpretation of Kurosawa’s classic procedural High and Low — also recently reimagined by Spike Lee in the more compelling Highest 2 Lowest — the hollow screenplay never sufficiently escalates the emotional stakes.

A solid cast elevates the mediocre material, with Affleck in particular capturing his character’s inner turmoil. Yet between all the skeletons in the closet and the morally ambiguous motives, it’s difficult to sympathize with anyone as the coincidences pile up.

As a surface-level examination of power, paranoia, socioeconomic class, and life in the spotlight, Animals lacks enough bite.

Rated R, 106 minutes.