Cocaine Bear (2023)

I had no advanced warning when all of a sudden a movie called Cocaine Bear showed up in my Facebook feed in early 2023.  At first I thought it was a joke, but soon found out it was real, with a finished trailer and everything.  This is just the sort of thing a b-movie fan gets excited over, especially if the movie doesn't appear to be self-aware of its own silliness and marketing - think Snakes on a Plane - or self-referential to past films.  

One of the reasons I thought it was a joke at first was because I had some passing knowledge of the real incident, which was a comically stupid death for the drug smuggler (pretty much recounted as-is, with slight embellishment, in the movie) and a tragic death for the bear that ingested a lethal dose of cocaine.  Instead of going on a drug-fueled rampage, it did what a human would do after consuming a Scarface-level amount of cocaine in one sitting, which is promptly earn its just reward, which hopefully in this case was a Jellystone full of pic-a-nic baskets.  

Writer Jimmy Warden, along with director Elizabeth Banks, decided to leave reality behind rather quickly and go for something a little more satisfying cinematically than watching a poor ursine shuffle off this mortal coil.  Though it was obvious they knew that no one was going to expect a serious movie out of the plot of a rampaging snowblind bear they still managed to do a decent job mixing the horror and humor elements, even if at times Cocaine Bear seems a bit too convoluted for its own good. 

When smuggler Andrew C. Thornton III (Matthew Rhys) has plane troubles, he does what he is supposed to and dump his cocaine over the Chattahoochee forest area in Georgia.  Unfortunately, he fails to properly dump himself, ending up in a driveway in Knoxville, Tennessee with a good amount of product on what remains of him.  It turns out he is a known associate of Syd White (Ray Liotta), part of the American side of a drug smuggling operation that Det. Bob Springs (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) has been trying to bring down for years.  While the detective heads off for Georgia, Syd sends his son Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich) and his associate Daveed (O'Shea Jackson Jr.) to retrieve what was dumped. 

Problem is, a local black bear has found the drugs and quickly developed a habit.  It has also become increasingly paranoid and aggressive, attacking hikers and the local park ranger (Margo Martindale).  Unfortunately, local kid Dee Dee (Brooklynn Prince) and her friend Henry (Christian Convery) have decided to ditch school for the day, unaware of what is happening.  When their mother Sari (Keri Russell) comes looking for them she has to deal not only with the bear, but with Syd and his boys as well. 

The bear in this looks awesome.  It just goes to make my point about how CGI is wasted on a lot of movies that cost four or five times more to make than this, where they can't even make a convincing looking Hulk.  A good deal of the budget obviously went into making the creature and, though it acts in a cartoonish manner occasionally, it never looks like one.  It would behoove many studios to keep in mind that one convincing major effect can make a major difference in the quality of a film.  To the credit of whoever marketed this, they waited until the effects were finished before showing it in the trailer.  That means one of the standout scenes, involving the ambulance, delivers what is promised. 

I just wish that there had been a little more focus on the story.  The movie promises a bear on cocaine, and it delivers it, and even better than expected.  Unfortunately, it also ties it down with some unnecessary drama involving the detective and the drug dealers.  The ranger and local troublemakers also weren't exactly necessary, but at least they provided some needed comic relief, even if that comedy is a bit bloody and dark.  The different people converging to where the cocaine is was not, as it took away much of the story of Sari rescuing her daughter and Henry.  By now, after The Americans and other movies which have acquired Keri Russell, someone should have got it through their heads that she will always be one of the most interesting characters on screen, and it's no exception here.  More of the run time needed to focus on her protecting the kids, bringing in Syd and his associates when necessary, particularly since Syd is the only true villain in the whole film.

I don't think it would have ended differently - I expected the ending, as this was not trying to rewrite the history of horror - but the only necessary subplot that didn't set up a big gore scene was that of the friendship between Eddie and Daveed.  Removing the detective, as well as his associate Ruby (Ayoola Smart), would not have harmed the movie at all and would have still given it the balance of ridiculous gore and humor it needed.  

Outside of the good work on the bear and the build-up and payoff with the ambulance scene this does have the feel of something that would normally have ended up on streaming.  It does have enough going for it that I understand whey they released it, and I admire Banks for just wanting to make a fun movie with little pretention and not feel like it was begging for cult status.  I just hope it's a one-and-done thing, and that we don't get Cocaine Bear in Da' Hood five years from now.  It's fun as it is, probably worth a few rewatches like-minded friends, but it would be nice if Hollywood would figure out that not everything needs to be a universe. 

Cocaine Bear (2023)

Time: 95 minutes

Starring: Keri Russell, Brooklynn Prince, Alden Ehrenreich, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Isiah Whitlock Jr., Ray Liotta, Christian Conery, Margo Martindale

Director: Elizabeth Banks