Cocaine Bear Is A Thrill Ride
There’s a bear and it’s on cocaine, a combination I honestly had no idea what to expect from. From the trailers alone, Cocaine Bear is a film that can be best described as what you’d be doing in it’s setting: camp.
Campy is the best way I could possibly describe this film that’s full of brutal gore that had me cringing and moments that were surprisingly (and darkly) hilarious. It’s quite the fun ride in this aspect. You really do get what you paid for. The film has plenty of brutal moments, scary moments that had the audience and I jumping, and was surprisingly funny.
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure if the film’s humor was going to land on me but was pleasantly surprised when it did. Even better were parts where I’d laugh at first before immediately cringing from the gore, which is an impressive feat. However, I wouldn’t say the film is flawless.
It has this A and B plot that worked well separately, but in the final act it just seemed like the two were forced together with no real fluidity or reason to really cross over. The film really does struggle the most in this final act, because for the most part it was entertaining and fun but in this act it just starts losing its flow. There’s a point that I can place where it starts getting messy. That’s where they toss in this totally unnecessary plot twist about one of the character we had only seen at the beginning.
While having a lackluster third act, I will say that it doesn’t take an awful amount away from the good parts. Although, I would like to state that the humor wasn’t without fault as it didn’t always land, but I can’t give it too much grievance for not landing so often for my taste of humor. However, if you’re a fan of dark humor like me, then you’ll very much enjoy some moments plenty.
As Goodfellas actor Ray Liotta’s (he/him) final film, I’d say it was certainly a campy time, just not so good of a third act. I’ll give it 3/5 bricks of cocaine.
One of my earlies memories was watching stories unfold on a small TV in my room. Ever since then, I've always wanted to become a filmmaker to put stories of my own onto all manner of screens. Being a fan of writing alongside this has also led to my love of writing analysis/reviews on the things I view. It's a joy to share to others my thoughts and insights on media.
