COCAINE BEAR Review: "Elizabeth Banks Makes It Snow In Bloody Wild, But Surprisingly Heartfelt Action Comedy"

COCAINE BEAR Review: "Elizabeth Banks Makes It Snow In Bloody Wild, But Surprisingly Heartfelt Action Comedy"

Every few years a movie comes around that you just have to see to believe and this year, we’re blessed with the Elizabeth Banks-directed action comedy Cocaine Bear! Read our thoughts on the film now!

Review Opinion
By RohanPatel - Feb 24, 2023 11:02 AM EST
Filed Under: Action

While the title is pretty self-explanatory, Cocaine Bear tells the (mostly fictional) story of a black bear that ate a ton of cocaine. Inspired by true events, the film picks up in the midst of drug runner Andrew C. Thornton II (Matthew Rhys) dumping out several duffel bags, filled with cocaine, from his cargo plane before it goes down. Unfortunately for him, a minor hiccup renders him dead and he’s unable to collect the bags, opening the door for a 500lb black bear to ingest a good chunk of his supply.

Then, it’s time to RAMPAGE!

Shortly thereafter, we’re introduced to the eponymous bear and director Elizabeth Banks (Pitch Perfect 2Charlie's Angels) wastes little time letting us know exactly what kind of movie this is as she indiscriminately starts picking off members of her unsurprisingly game cast in increasingly brutal and often hysterical ways. No one is truly safe, which certainly adds to the excitement as we barrel toward the end of this relatively breezy action comedy.

Outside of a bear on blow, the plot revolves around the many locals and visitors that find themselves in the bear’s warpath. There’s Sari (Keri Russell) out looking for her missing daughter (Brooklynn Prince) and her friend (Christian Convery), Daveed (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) and Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich) who have been tasked by drug kingpin Syd Dentwood (Ray Liotta) with retrieving the bags, the park rangers (Margo Martindale; Jesse Tyler Ferguson) whose flirtations get interrupted by the bear’s onslaught, the paramedics (Scott Seiss; Kathyun Kim) who arrive on the scene a little too late, and, then, there’s Detective Bob (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) who is just trying to do his job and catch the drug dealers.

It’s certainly a colorful group of characters and the cast is effective in their respective roles, with Banks giving them plenty of comedic material to work with and the audience enough time with each to make you care about whether they get eaten or not. It is a B-movie through and through, so it’s extremely campy, and every joke doesn’t necessarily land, but there’s still more than enough to keep you laughing - and gasping - throughout.

The bear is as terrifying as she seems, but, for lack of a better word, is also kind of adorable, even when she’s at her most murderous. She’s the star of the show and she knows it. Every second the bear is on screen is a sight to behold, especially when she’s tearing someone limb from limb. The kills are big and they are bloody brutal, so be prepared. Banks also does draw clear inspiration from classics like Jaws and Jurassic Park to make the bear’s movements as scary as possible, so there are a few kills we hear rather than see, but she also does an admirable job making the bear its own monster by the film’s third act.

Banks and screenwriter Jimmy Warden inject a unique sense of humor and a surprising amount of heart into the film, and frequently manage to surprise in terms of both comedy and violence. They push the envelope a little further than you’d expect, but not as far as you might want, although we wouldn’t be shocked if an Unrated cut of Cocaine Bear is ultimately released on home video.

We won’t nitpick the film too much since it does deliver on what Universal promised: a bear on cocaine that kills a bunch of people. However, it would’ve been fun if the film was a pinch more violent or the body count were a tad higher, although we imagine there’s only so far you can go with inventive bear kills. The human subplots are also fine, for the most part, but they feel somewhat disjointed. 

In his last film appearance, the late Ray Liotta gets a proper sendoff. 

Elizabeth Banks, in her third directorial venture, makes it snow with the bloody wild, but surprisingly heartfelt Cocaine Bear. Delivering on its promise of a cocaine-fueled demon bear, gut-wrenching gore-filled kills, and an ample amount of dark comedy, Cocaine Bear is quite an entertaining time at the cinema and should be a big crowd pleaser this weekend… especially if you can handle a few gallons of spilled blood.

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EZBeast
EZBeast - 2/24/2023, 11:16 AM
Going tonight and I can’t wait!
cheeseburger
cheeseburger - 2/24/2023, 11:19 AM
Just watched Jeremy’s review and it couldn’t more opposite to this reviewer. Hard pass on this
AmazingFILMporg
AmazingFILMporg - 2/24/2023, 11:45 AM
@cheeseburger -


It's awful.😐
DocSpock
DocSpock - 2/24/2023, 11:20 AM


Sounds like a typical Supercat bachelor party. He knows better than to invite Gusto, but he always does.

Matador
Matador - 2/24/2023, 11:21 AM
@DocSpock - Now that's a party I'd go too!
Matador
Matador - 2/24/2023, 11:20 AM
Good for her Banks needs a win!

AmazingFILMporg
AmazingFILMporg - 2/24/2023, 11:46 AM
@Matador -


She needs to be locked up cause her films are [frick]ing atrocious.


Seriously sucks
Matador
Matador - 2/24/2023, 2:35 PM
@AmazingFILMporg - Uwe Boll says hi



Honestly your opinion personally

I don't even care.
MosquitoFarmer
MosquitoFarmer - 2/24/2023, 11:39 AM
I thought the original trailer looked just awful. Glad to hear it's getting such praise, and is looking to be rather fun.
AmazingFILMporg
AmazingFILMporg - 2/24/2023, 11:45 AM
The film was [frick]ing terrible. The only good part was the ambulance scene with that tik tok guy. That's it.



Everyone was awful in it. So [frick]ing awful.💁
EZBeast
EZBeast - 2/24/2023, 11:49 AM
@AmazingFILMporg - well this is highly depressing…
RolandD
RolandD - 2/24/2023, 11:55 AM
@AmazingFILMporg - What happened Porgie? You seem down on everything lately. 😂
kider2
kider2 - 2/24/2023, 12:04 PM
@RolandD - They might be running out of emoji's
AmazingFILMporg
AmazingFILMporg - 2/24/2023, 12:05 PM
@RolandD -


Because the movies are bad💁



When it's bad I call it out. Been this way from day 1🤝
AmazingFILMporg
AmazingFILMporg - 2/24/2023, 12:05 PM
@kider2 -


Never🤠🙏🙏🤣🤠🤝🤠💁💯🙏🔥🙏🤕💁🔥🙏😫🏃🙂🥲🙃🙃☝️✌️☝️😃😺☝️😂☝️
mountainman
mountainman - 2/24/2023, 12:36 PM
@AmazingFILMporg - Scott Seiss was kind of funny when he first came on the scene, but like most social media “comedians”, he’s very one note and has over-stayed his welcome.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 2/24/2023, 12:57 PM
@EZBeast - I'd get more than one opinion if I were you lol
ThorArms
ThorArms - 2/24/2023, 11:50 AM
Was awful imo
LordHarryLatts
LordHarryLatts - 2/24/2023, 11:53 AM
I will never contribute a single penny to Banks. Such a despicable POS.
RolandD
RolandD - 2/24/2023, 12:41 PM
@LordHarryLatts - She turned you down, huh?
bobevanz
bobevanz - 2/24/2023, 12:54 PM
@LordHarryLatts - all because she blamed dudes for Charlie's Angels, get over yourself
LordHarryLatts
LordHarryLatts - 2/24/2023, 1:51 PM
@bobevanz - that's not it at all...even though that was bad in itself. It was her ridiculous attempt to smear Spielberg that did it for me.
JuanRGuijarro
JuanRGuijarro - 2/24/2023, 11:59 AM
Its going to be really funny when this movie overthrows antman in just one week
mountainman
mountainman - 2/24/2023, 12:38 PM
@JuanRGuijarro - It would be funny, but I’m not so sure if it’ll happen.

If it does, that’ll be a sad state for the MCU. Only one week at #1 and dethroned by a parody movie about a coked up bear when this is supposed to be setting up the multiverse saga.
Tcb97
Tcb97 - 2/24/2023, 12:04 PM
I don't comment a lot on this site, but I just have to say that this movie was awful. Everybody was trying to be a comedian and the comedy (jokes and oneliners) weren't funny at all.. Some kills with the Bear are fine I guess? But the entire movie surrounding the bear was terrible (overacting, CGI). You're not supposed to take this seriously, but my god, at least put something of quality in the movie.

This is just as dumb as some of the Transformers movie, but at least those effects where almost always up to par. There is one kill in Cocaine Bear where somebody gets shot in the head and it's so obviously CGI, instead of just a nice practical effect (which it should have been). The characters where annoying the crap out of me and nobody was likable, they where all stupid archetypes (standard cop, stupid kid who wants to be tough, couple of dumb gangsters.

If you can enjoy something like this then good for you, but for me 'turning my brain of and just having fun' isn't gonna work sometimes. Sorry..
bobevanz
bobevanz - 2/24/2023, 12:56 PM
@Tcb97 - gotta pick and choose which schlock to watch, I didn't hate it.
BeNice123
BeNice123 - 2/24/2023, 12:05 PM
Yezzem.
KaptainKhaos
KaptainKhaos - 2/24/2023, 12:07 PM
Bring on the sequel Cocaine Bear V Crystal Meth Tiger: Dawn of (Insert Drug Name Here)
ModHaterSLADE
ModHaterSLADE - 2/24/2023, 12:21 PM
Sounds fun enough that I might give Banks another chance after Charlie's Angels.
TheHumanSpider2
TheHumanSpider2 - 2/24/2023, 12:53 PM
I might see this just to make sure is real.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 2/24/2023, 12:55 PM
I didn't hate it, for a 1.5 hour movie I was entertained. Sure there could have been better jokes, but wtf do you expect from a movie with this premise. I'd watch this again before Quantumania any day
ImBatman4realz
ImBatman4realz - 2/24/2023, 12:57 PM
This movie looks anything but “heartfelt”. 😂
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