Animals Review
Director: Ben Affleck
Date Created: 2026-10-09 17:10
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Animals Review: Directed by Ben Affleck, the Netflix crime thriller stars Affleck as Mark Kimball, a mayoral candidate whose political ambitions collide with a family crisis. The film also features Kerry Washington as his wife, Abigail Kimball, Steven Yeun as his trusted associate Sam Allison, Gillian Anderson as a mysterious fixer, Adriana Paz as Cecilia Trujillo, Luis Gerardo Méndez as Ramon, Christopher Woodley as their son Denny, and Jacob Estrada as Hector. Written by Affleck, Billy Ray, and Connor O. McIntyre. The movie has a runtime of 1 hour and 46 minutes.
Animals Review
Netflix’s Animals revolves around Mark Kimball, who is a mayoral candidate contesting the post independently in Los Angeles. Being a dedicated candidate with a huge investment in the election campaign, Mark faces many troubles as the campaign comes closer to reaching an important point. Before an important phase of the election starts, Mark’s son Denny gets kidnapped by some unknown individuals. They ask for $7 million from Mark to return the child alive. Both Mark and his wife Abbie are concerned about bringing their child back to safety, yet Mark and Abby cannot come to a consensus on how to go about this.
His associate Sam proposes getting help from the help of a mysterious fixer for Mark’s predicament but she does have a hefty charge on her side. The biggest flaw of the Netflix movie Animals is that while the film presents a good premise, it fails to develop it into a good thriller. The first few scenes, especially those involving the quick shots of Mark’s political campaign, give the idea that this is going to be a suspenseful film about a man who sees his well-constructed image start to fall apart because of his personal life.
The kidnapping adds an element of urgency, and the $7 million ransom adds a complicated dilemma. But once the main conflict is introduced, the movie tends to circle around the same points without developing them further. I needed the kidnapping to create enough mental stress for Mark, which would allow him to make some choices showing who he is. There are times when the movie almost gets close to this concept, particularly when he needs to think about the consequences of paying the fixer with his campaign in an unstable state.
However, such situations are not allowed to develop freely in the script. Instead, the characters Mark, Abby, and Sam debate throughout most of the film about what action to take next; yet, it often turns out to be boring rather than revelatory. Mark appears to be the most intriguing character in the 2026 film Animals because his political career relies on his ability to convince people that he is an honest man who understands their concerns.
Mark’s efforts to reach out to Latino voters, including his tendency to speak in Spanish at public appearances and while communicating in person, make his campaign even more complex. I found this aspect more intriguing than the kidnapping scheme of the film because it brings up the question of how politicians create their sincerity. Is Mark really concerned about the people he wants to please, or does he just act like an interested candidate? Unfortunately, Animals does not develop this contradiction well. It provides an interesting idea about political image and the ambitions of a politician, but it does not always link it with Mark’s actions.
The performance of Ben Affleck did not satisfy me fully either. He has all the traits of a person who might look like he can rule a room, and there are instances in which he convincingly plays the role of a politician attempting to be friendly. Still, once Mark finds out that his son has been kidnapped, his anger and despair do not always come across as real emotions. Most of the time, it looks like he is simply yelling and irritated, which makes it hard for the viewer to really understand how he feels.
Abby, played by Kerry Washington, is also able to give her own unique point of view. This woman has to face exactly the same scary ordeal as Mark, but it is very possible that her responses are different from those of Mark, and she is not ready to follow his suggestions. These conflicts hint at the fact that this marriage had problems even before the kidnapping ordeal took place. The actress manages to put a lot of energy into her role, but sometimes the confrontations turn out to be too intense and do not bring any emotion with them.
The secrets of the woman are supposed to give additional twists to the plot, but their significance turns out to be very unpredictable. Sam by Steven Yeun is yet another character whose importance to the story doesn’t increase to the point it should have. In his position as Mark’s right-hand man, Sam opens up the possibility of taking an approach that would make the kidnapping easier to handle, including his suggestion of hiring the fixer. The idea behind what he knows how to do piques curiosity in the beginning, but the movie doesn’t give any background about his intentions. I wondered if his loyalty to Mark had anything to do with his own selfish needs.
Gillian Anderson leaves the strongest lasting impression as the enigmatic fixer due to the restrained style and unique aura that makes the character stand out in the middle of an ever-worsening bunch of protagonists. It appears that she realises the futility of the situation and its danger but does not allow either of them to get to her. On the other hand, the 2026 Netflix movie Animals gives her an occasional opportunity to add a spark to some dialogues in fancy rooms that might otherwise seem too tense and boring.
Netflix Animals Review: Summing Up
Overall, the 2026 Animals movie is intriguing in terms of the ideas that can be found in it. The way the political image-making, marital secrets, money, and desperation of the parents are combined could lead to an interesting thriller. In some cases, the actors’ performances make it interesting to watch these things, while the story made me intrigued about how the characters would react to their difficulties. Unfortunately, there are too many events that are underdeveloped, and the characters’ conflict does not reach its climax. I would say that the movie is average.
