★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Intensity 🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed and written by Kiah Roache-Turner
Australian shark shocker Beast of War balances its drama and creature feature elements impressively, boasting good performances and plenty of great-white gore.
Official synopsis
When their boat is sunk while crossing the Timor Sea during World War II, a young troop of Australian soldiers must find a way to survive the harsh seas on a quickly shrinking life raft. Hundreds of miles from anywhere, they must confront interpersonal conflicts, enemy attacks, and the advances of one very large, very hungry great white shark. From Kiah Roache-Turner, director of Wyrmwood and Sting, comes this uniquely terrifying tale.
Review
This year has been a pretty good one for shark movie devotees, including such shockers as Dangerous Animals. Writer/director Kiah Roache-Turner delivers a fine Australian entry with Beast of War.
World War II Australian soldiers Leo (Mark Coles Smith), Will (Joel Nankervis), Des (Sam Delich) and Stan (Maximillian Johnson) are among the military men whose ship is destroyed by a Japanese air attack. They survive, along with a few others, but everyone on their makeshift raft is potential food for a great white shark that circles them. As this takes place during a war, the shark is not the only threat to their lives, which adds to the suspense.
Roache-Turner sets up tension between altruistic Aboriginal Leo and hothead racist Des during training before the ship sails, and it’s no cinematic surprise when the two wind up on the same raft. It’s yet another level of anxiety with which the filmmaker makes this more than just another shark thriller — though there is plenty of that on display, too.
The cast is solid throughout, with Nankervis giving Leo the right balance of caring for his fellow troops and ability to take care of himself, while Nankervis invests Will as the voice of reason in the group, and Delich so good as the villainous Des that viewers can’t wait to see him hopefully get his.
The shark and gore effects are highly impressive, so viewers checking out the film mainly for that should find plenty to enjoy. Roache-Turner knows his way around good horror tales, though, and is well aware that it is dramatic heft that elevates a fear-fare film from just another entry in a subgenre to a truly riveting effort.
Beast of War, from Well Go USA Entertainment, debuts on Blu-ray™ and DVD on December 9, 2025.
Review by Joseph Perry
