Animals

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Animals

R

Oct 2026

1h 46m

Mystery & Thriller

Crime

Drama

Action

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

30%

Tomatometer

83 Reviews

37%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

When their son is kidnapped, a Los Angeles mayoral candidate and his wife find themselves drawn into a web of deception. As they scramble to raise the ransom payment, they're forced to make choices that could tear their world apart.

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Audience Says

Despite all the makings of an enticing story, including a compelling Kerry Washington, Animals’ weak writing prevents it from reaching its full potential.

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Randy Myers

San Jose Mercury News

Oct 15, 2026

2/4

Animals is indeed a curious beast, a familiar thriller that poorly cribs from the classic Kurosawa film “High and Low” and feels stuck in its larval stage.

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John Nugent

Empire Magazine

Oct 15, 2026

3/5

A mixed bag. It’s far from Affleck’s best work, but there are glimmers of his muscularity and sharpness, as both filmmaker and actor.

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Ryan Lattanzio

IndieWire

Oct 10, 2026

C-

For every piece of drone footage sweeping across LA, every shot that carves out about two feet of space between actors with no sizzle, I kept wishing for more Gillian Anderson, more Gillian Anderson, please.

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Terry Staunton

Radio Times

56 min ago

4/5

The story risks becoming too frantic in its final third, but not until we’re already hooked by what’s gone before and prepared to forgive a minor misstep or two; a small price to pay for such richly rewarding and suspenseful filmmaking.

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Robert W. Butler

Butler's Cinema Scene

2 days ago

C

The Kimballs come off as wealthy, self-obsessed assholes. Whether this was Affleck and Crew’s intention I don’t know. But “Animals” gives us few characters to root for.

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Maxance Vincent

Cosmic Circus

6 days ago

1.5/5

How the mighty have fallen...

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Nia S

@RT85398306 5 hrs ago

There’s some gaps in the movie. It is basically once scene extended for the movie time. Somewhat thought provoking.

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Anna M

@Movielvoer 23 hrs ago

This was quite literally the worst movie I have watched in years. Terrible acting and the edits are awful. A few things they clearly didn’t think through while making the movie that made my husband and I laugh: - An alarm goes off at 4:30 in the morning and it’s fully light out - There’s a scene at the end of the movie with terrible CGI. We seriously both burst out laughing. - In the same scene, it’s allegedly 6 or 7 in the morning and this overpass they go to is completely empty, no cars but then when they show a scene later, with that same overpass, suddenly it’s flooded with cars. Just a lot of moments like this throughout that don’t add up and I feel like any director, especially one working with "A-list actors" would catch these things. Don’t waste your time!

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Paul S

@PManRager 1 day ago

I'm shocked to see how low this movie scored; I thought this was amazing. The story was incredibly intense, and the back-and-forth between the characters added to the movie's dysfunctional atmosphere. Ben Affleck gave one of the best performances of his career in this movie. I definitely recommend this for drama, thriller, and crime fans!

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MariofanAlex445 T

@RT47678067 1 day ago

Just not good. I hated his wife with a burning passion. What is her deal, yo? For the most part it kept me interested but definitely not a good movie. 1.5/5 stars.

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Stephen C

@dogfood23111 2 days ago

This movie is rated R.

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Horror fan 4

@Horrorfan4life 3 days ago

This was really good , especially the ending. The dark secrets that are revealed isn't anything new or that shocking which is why I took 2 points off my score. I was looking for deep dark secrets from all the characters involved but not just one secret multiple secrets. Still I like the characters and performances. Tim Treakle

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Ben Affleck

Director

Ben Affleck

Mark Kimball

Kerry Washington

Actor

Gillian Anderson

Actor

Steven Yeun

Actor

Luis Gerardo Méndez

Actor

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Synopsis

When their son is kidnapped, a Los Angeles mayoral candidate and his wife find themselves drawn into a web of deception. As they scramble to raise the ransom payment, they're forced to make choices that could tear their world apart.

Director: Ben Affleck
Producer: Brad Weston, Collin Creighton, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Dani Bernfeld, Luciana Damon
Screenwriter: Connor O. McIntyre, Billy Ray, Ben Affleck
Distributor: Netflix
Production Co: Artists Equity, Fifth Season
Rating: R
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Crime, Drama, Action
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 9, 2026, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 9, 2026
Runtime: 1h 46m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

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