‘Animals’ Movie Review: How the Mighty Have Fallen
The embrace of artificial intelligence in mainstream cinema has been the most depressing sight the medium has ever seen. It’s a total abdication of creativity at every turn as high-profile filmmakers use a technology built on theft to “craft” images that are both unappealing and emotionally hollow. Many might say that “X movie feels like it was made by AI,” but none is truer than Ben Affleck’s latest directorial effort, Animals. This is a movie where AI is plastered all over its production to the point where you have to squint very hard to see the artificial seams in cinematographer Robert Elswit’s frames.
The story in Animals (2026)
Apparently Animals is not a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low (itself based on Evan Hunter’s King’s Ransom), even if it contains the primary plot beat that drives that story’s events in motion. Affleck’s latest directorial endeavor is a lazy and dull mess of a “thriller” that barely functions as a high-octane drama and character study of two broken, lost souls putting their differences aside for the safe return of their son.
At least, that’s what they think when Los Angeles mayoral candidate Mark Kimball (Ben Affleck) and his wife, Abigail (Kerry Washington), get a phone call from a mysterious voice (Matt Gerald) saying he’s abducted their son, Denny (Christopher Woodley). We don’t understand what motivates the kidnapper at first, but he wants a ransom of $7 million for the safe return of their child. But this is money that Mark does not have anymore, as he has put all his funds into his campaign, per the recommendation of his manager, Sam (Steven Yeun).
But then it turns out that the kidnapper mistakenly took the wrong child after Denny unexpectedly arrives home. He was dressed in the same Halloween costume as his friend Hector (Jacob Estrada), the son of Cecilia Trujillo (Adriana Paz) and Ramon Valle (Luis Gerardo Méndez), illegal immigrants who work for Mark’s household.
An “important turning point” has occurred, which sees the prospective mayor enlist the help of an operative by the name of Dayle Burton (Gillian Anderson) to help them regain Hector but also be able to spin the narrative successfully for his mayoral campaign to prevail. It’s a semi-interesting reinterpretation of High and Low, even if Spike Lee remade that story so much better in Highest 2 Lowest. Unfortunately, the ideas Ben Affleck and his co-screenwriters, Connor O. McIntyre and Billy Ray, explore in this almost isolated pressure cooker are barely fleshed out.
Ben Affleck brings us an algorithmic-feeling “remake” of a masterpiece
What starts as a drama of a fractured couple on opposite ends of the spectrum morphs into a ransom thriller with very little meat around the bone. Affleck’s filmmaking skills are usually aesthetically interesting in bringing his vivid worlds to life, but his heart doesn’t seem to be in the production. The cinematography makes frequently boring framing choices, and its use of FPV drones to enhance action momentum actively worsens the rhythm.
We don’t know the extent of the film’s use of AI, but Affleck did say that the movie employed it for “lots of things,” and it seems true because most of Animals’ construction feels algorithmic and devoid of any human feeling.
The way the story progresses almost feels as if one fed High and Low (and perhaps Highest 2 Lowest) to an algorithm and asked it to write another reinterpretation without understanding what made Kurosawa’s work so vital to the visual art form of image-making. The compositions in that film are some of the most astonishing and exciting you’ll ever see.
Affleck’s eye for visuals has always been semi-interesting (imperfect, but that’s what makes some of the best directors stand out), but no single image in Animals feels like it’s coming from his own mind. It’s been “enhanced” or “generated” through software that doesn’t understand the true power of human-made creativity. It only knows how to plagiarize the greatest artists, who are likely rolling in their graves to see their work desecrated by a program like that.
You might notice that some billboards were entirely generated by AI (Hulu’s Paradise is called PARASISE), but plenty of sequences are so cheap that one wonders whether a program also had a part to play in their conception. In any event, if one ignores the glaring elephant in the room, watching Animals is deeply unpleasant because the film makes little effort to care about what it’s showing us.
Both Affleck and Washington are stuck in histrionic shouting matches and portray their characters with very little subtlety, while the primary antagonist’s reasons for targeting Kimball are inherently nebulous and never clarify as the film progresses. He’s a run-of-the-mill villain as undercooked as the rest of the cast, except for Yeun and Anderson, who deliver some genuinely impassioned turns.
Gillian Anderson is the best part of Animals. Before showing up, the film threatens to be a boring retread of a masterpiece. When she appears on screen, it almost lights up. Almost, because she is but one of the many puzzle pieces left in this mess. She can only do so much heavy lifting before Animals falls apart completely in a climax so ridiculous it almost recalls the post-digital textures of Neil Breen. But he’s never used AI (and likely never will).
Affleck’s embrace of this technology made him capitulate from his role as one of Hollywood’s most prominent voices into a lazy shell of himself we barely recognize.
Animals film rating and final thoughts
Affleck’s Air, after years of instability in his personal life, felt like the necessary comeback for him to lock in as a filmmaker and keep delivering engaging stories for audiences. His production company, Artists Equity, is a necessary step to provide burgeoning talents the support they need to succeed in the industry.
His latest relationship with AI is likely the biggest mistake he’s made as a creative, because there’s nothing inherently interesting about a technology that saps our souls and creates a bunch of lazy people. Perhaps the dismal reception of Animals will be enough to make him reconsider his stance on the technology before he becomes a sellout, because the world still needs Ben Affleck’s voice more than ever.
Animals is currently streaming on Netflix.
