Ben Affleck directs, produces, co-writes, and stars in his latest Netflix collaboration, “Animals”. Earlier this year, he and his childhood friend and frequent producing partner Matt Damon released “The Rip” on the ever-growing streaming platform. It was a gritty retro action thriller loosely based on a really-life Miami drug bust. Interestingly, “Animals” has a similar throwback quality to it. It’s a crime thriller with a psychological edge that would have felt right at home on big screens in the 1990s.

Damon was originally set to star alongside Affleck’s ex-wife Jennifer Garner. But after a nearly one-year delay, Damon was no longer available due to his commitments to Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey”. And both Affleck and Garner decided against her casting. So Affleck took on Damon’s role and Kerry Washington was brought in as Garner’s replacement. Gillian Anderson, Steven Yeun, Adriana Paz, Luis Geraldo Mendez, and Ray Fisher round out the film’s sturdy cast.

Jointly written by Affleck, Connor O. McIntyre, and Billy Ray, the story is set and filmed in Los Angeles. Affleck plays Mark Kimball, a lifelong LA resident who is now seeking to be the city’s next mayor. Mark is a slick and polished politician who is good-looking, charismatic, and always says the right thing. His résumé touts his time as a teacher, soldier, lawyer, and district attorney. He sounds like the perfect candidate. But there’s one problem – he finds himself down three points entering the last stretch of the election.

To make matters worse, Mark’s self-funded campaign is broke. His wife Abby (Washington) doesn’t know it, but he has already used up all their savings. And now, at the urging of his campaign manager Sam (Yeun), he has secretly taken out a loan and put up their swanky Brentwood home up as collateral. It puts Mark in a precarious position. If he doesn’t win the election, he will lose his wife, his home – everything. Meanwhile, Abby has secrets of her own which could cost her as well.

Mark and Abby’s world is turned upside down after they receive a call from a distorted voice claiming their son Denny (Christopher Woodley) has been kidnapped. He was taken while out trick-or-treating with their nanny Cecilia (Paz) and her son Hector (Jacob Estrada). Now Denny’s abductor is threatening to kill him if Mark doesn’t pay $7 million cash. And things only heat up when Mark is forced to confess to Abby that they don’t have the money because he spent it on his campaign.

Affleck wastes no time cranking the story’s simmer to a boil. Tensions skyrocket as truths are revealed that not only threaten Mark and Abby’s already fractured marriage, but that has the potential to derail any chance of saving their son. Meanwhile the film tosses in a few intriguing wildcards who add some unexpected layers to the story. Take Dayle Burton (Anderson), a powerful and merciless fixer who loans money and navigates crises out of the public eye for a stiff 20% fee with severe penalties if she isn’t paid in full. And there’s Cecilia’s undocumented fiancé Ramon (Mendez) who impacts things in some surprising ways.

Just as “Animals” has us thinking we know where things are going, it throws us a curveball that recontextualizes things in some fascinating ways. The film’s obvious title comes fully into focus as circumstances force characters to reveal their true selves. As they do, not only does Affleck explore individual morality, but he also shows just how political relationships can be. Equally compelling is the sharp contrast he explores between glossy public images and the murkier private truths that never make the news.

Strong performances help energize the movie starting with Affleck who sharply conveys Mark’s complexity, from his volatility to his ruthless self-preservation to moments of genuine empathy. Washington is equally good as a woman who keeps her emotions close to the chest. And Anderson is a devilish blend of menace and camp. There are unanswered questions that linger well after the credits roll, and not all of the pieces fit together as intended. But “Animals” is a high-stakes, tension-driven thriller with enough unpredictability and emotional weight to keep its audience involved from start to finish.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

As a sucker for Westerns, I’m pretty easily drawn in whenever modern filmmakers attempt to tap back into that classic genre. It’s especially enticing when they’re remaking an old John Wayne movie. Such is the case with “Angel and the Badman”, a new film from director Julio Quintana that’s based on Wayne’s 1947 Western of the same name. I’ve since learned that there was a 2009 remake for the Hallmark Channel. I can’t speak to that one, but this latest version entertains despite its notable flaws.

Written by the trio of Jaime Hernandez, Kevin M. Townsend, and Christopher Tuffin, the story follows Quirt Evans (Zachary Levi), a notorious outlaw whose reputation is known throughout the territory. After burying a small chest of stolen confederate gold at an abandoned mission, a wounded Quirt rides his horse until he collapses in front of farmhouse where he’s found by a young woman named Penny Worth (Meg Fraser).

Quirt is brought inside and nursed back to health by a beguiled Penny, her mother Irene (Jean Louisa Kelly), her grandmother Harriet (Melissa Chambers), and her fussy kid brother Johnny (Barrett Ellis Luca). Quirt begins helping out around the place, even using some of his past reputation to straighten out a surly neighbor. But as anyone who has watched Westerns knows, stolen gold draws all kinds of bad hombres. In this case it’s Laredo (Neal McDonough), a ruthless gang leader determined to get his hands on that loot.

It’s pretty easy to figure out where the story goes from there. As Quirt gets a taste of a simpler life with the Worth family, Laredo arrives with his two henchman (Maurice Greene and Jesús Carús) and spoils things. The lone wildcard in the movie’s predictable hand is the underdeveloped Marshal Boone McClintock (Tommy Lee Jones), a lawman who grows leery of Quirt’s hanging out at the Worth’s home. The seasoned Jones is a personal favorite of mine and always a welcomed presence. But here his character almost feels like an afterthought.

As the story follows its rather conventional trajectory, Quintana spruces it up with some fittingly classical cinematography, costumes, and production design. He also mines some unexpectedly good laughs out of the material. Yet there are also occasional moments of overacting, some shaky accents, and instances where the dialog feels written for a Western movie rather than authentic to its time. Even more, chunks of helpful backstory seem to be missing, and the abrupt finish doesn’t end things on the best note.

Even with its flaws, “Angel and the Badman” has just enough genre flavor to scratch the itch of longtime Western fans. For everyone else, the reactions are likely to be a little more mixed. It’s a movie that leaves so much on and off the table. Though familiar, the premise has enough for a considerably more engaging story. And it sports a cast who are plenty capable of bringing it to life. Unfortunately, what we get is entertaining enough, but too generic to leave much of an impression.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS