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Animals

Play trailer 1:00 Poster for Animals R Now Playing 1h 46m Mystery & Thriller Crime Drama Action Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
36% Tomatometer 47 Reviews 42% Popcornmeter 100+ 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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Animals

Critics Reviews

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Ryan Lattanzio IndieWire 19 hrs ago
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. Go to Full Review
Kevin Maher The Times (UK) 23 hrs ago
3/5
The kidnapping story never fully makes sense, while the film’s lack of interest in the villain is shameful. But this is mostly guilty pleasure fun, and Affleck is too good a film-maker to produce a genuine misfire. Go to Full Review
Peter Travers The Travers Take 1 day ago
1/4
Was someone holding a gun to Ben Affleck’s head to make this kidnap clunker? I’d hate to think he did it willingly. Go to Full Review
Casey Chong Talking Films 17 hrs ago
2.5/5
Ben Affleck's engrossing kidnapping thriller works to an extent. Go to Full Review
Nate Adams The Only Critic 18 hrs ago
D+
For a filmmaker who has previously demonstrated such a strong command of geography and escalating tension, Affleck seems content to let scenes unfold without much urgency or visual imagination. Go to Full Review
Robert Kojder Flickering Myth 20 hrs ago
3.5/5
Animals is an undeniably suspenseful riff on a classic with taut hostage thrills, slyly demonstrating a cynical brokenness in American politics Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Mark L @WildBill23 24 min ago Terrible. Bad writing. Bad Directing. What happened to Ben Affleck? He directed The TOWN and ARGO. Both brilliant movies. This was just awful. See more Joe R @KingLilJoe 1 hr ago well I honestly, i liked the movie. I thought everyone was guilty at some point, but the most i hated was the wife! and the dude still kept her, and I NEVER SAW HER crying in TEARS! not a good actress.. and this whole time I thought that Afleck was gonna do some batman stuff! See more Keith S @Keithisacritic 2 hrs ago I don’t get what Ben was going for here. Boring and a little bit morally confused. I feel like he just wanted to find a way to show off his Spanish, and came up with a very simple premise during a toilet break. See more MC R @RT91491190 2 hrs ago Let's say It's not the best directed movie by Ben Affleck. I prefer Argo and AIR more. I was curious about his take on The Batman though, shame it didn't came through. Glad with the direction of Matt Reeves though. Animals is just a movie about asshole people doing shitty things and acting all moral and shit. Glad Affleck gave Ray Fisher a roll in this movie, even it was a short one. Fisher deserves more and got let's say disrespected by Warner and Whedon. See more Ana G @RT04681718 3 hrs ago Excellent movie, I enjoyed it very much See more Nichole G @ngraham 3 hrs ago I really enjoyed Animals. It touched on politics, infidelity, kidnapping, immigration, the mafia, and police failure to respond in high-crime areas. What I liked most was seeing what a wealthy couple would do when they find out it’s not their son that was kidnapped. It took a lot to still pay $7 million for a child that’s not yours whom you barely know. In the end, I was happy to see both types of evil die (the kidnappers and the fixer/mafia woman because although she supplied the money she wasn’t a good person). I think more thought should have gone into the ending because there were a lot of unanswered questions such as what happened to the body of the female fixer? I like that he explored how he got off with probation because he’s white but had the Spanish guy been truthful that he shot the kidnapper he would have gone to jail. Kerry knowing his secret (that Ben wanted to kill the kidnappers) explored real couple issues that show how things could go left if they ever broke up. See more Read all reviews
Animals

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Movie Info

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, 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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