Beast of War (2025) | Film Review

I’ve been keeping my eye on this one ever since I first saw the trailer & other ads for it months ago. Inspired by the sinking of Australian corvette HMAS Armidale in November 1942, the film follows the story of a small group of soldiers who survive the aerial attack from the Japanese. Afloat on part of the wreckage they soon find out they’ve dropped a notch in the food chain as a 20-foot great shite shark begins hunting them. I mean that short description alone should be enough to sell this film. If not, then please read on so I can tell you how much I enjoyed this one.

Story is straightforward and very enjoyable in its simplicity. First twenty minutes or so we’re introduced to our principal cast, whilst getting a bit of background and development on them as well as certain dynamics within the platoon as they go through a training montage of sorts. I found this had a surprisingly good amount of character development in it; even more impressive most of it is confined to the opening portion of the film. Sets things up nicely for the rest of the film to pull focus onto how the hell these guys are going to survive not only being lost at sea wounded with extremely limited supplies, but not being killed by this absolute monster that’s currently circling them. Unlike some of its predecessors as well, this shark film had a pretty great ending- well and truly cememnted Leo's place as an utter badass too!

I’ve found a fair few horrors in recent years strive to be something more and yearn to stand out, breaking ground and falling into the elevated horror category- thankfully this doesn’t. Sticks to being a man vs monster film with some fantastic sequences and scenes, a solid cast, some great special effects and kill scenes, few intense moments, brilliantly dry Aussie humour and, most importantly, a kick-ass shark.

The cast were wonderful and did well in their respective roles. They all gave solid performances and had great chemistry together on screen- reminiscent of the Colonial Marines in James Cameron’s Aliens; the banter was funny as hell. No spoilers folks but try not to get attached to them… is a shark film after all.

Sam Delich was fantastic as Des- absolutely hated the guy for the majority of the film due to various moments of cowardice, shitty behaviour and general dickishness, and some very archaic views, which, unfortunately, would have been the societal norm for some during 1942. He ultimately does get his comeuppance with karma making him pay an arm & a leg (well just an arm) for what he’s done, however he does redeem himself rather heroically before the final credits role.

Sam Parsonson as Thompson made for some rather funny moments throughout after he sustained a head injury in the wreckage; Lee Tiger Halley was equally as good as Teddy. Do have to give a shout out to the poor (and bravely heroic) Stan, played by Maximillian Johnson, as well- they put this guy through the mill in this film!

Joel Nankervis as Will I thought was perfect casting. He put in a stellar performance, and without a doubt he was the most relatable throughout the entire film. Sort of the runt of the litter, the outcast if you will, he never really fit in with the rest of them, and I always had the feeling he wanted to be anywhere else in the world but there. Nankervis played it in such a way I not only found myself really rooting for him but feeling bad for the guy at the same time. Thankfully, Will had someone to fall back on and help him- Leo played by Mark Coles Smith.

As amazing as the rest of the cast were, Mark Coles Smith stood out throughout this entire film. Always looking out for Will and trying to do what’s best or right, he makes for an incredibly likeable character. Loved the development and backstory for him as well, and to top it all off he’s an absolute badass in this. I can honestly say I have not rooted for a character to survive a film as much as this in a long time (I won’t ruin if he survives or not…just go watch the film. You can thank me later.). Furthermore, the chemistry and back and forth between Leo & Will was a treat to watch, I got the sense they were more like brothers than mates.

Beast of War (2025) | Film Review

So…what you’ve all been waiting for…let’s talk about the shark. In short, the shark was great, so great at times I genuinely forgot I was watching an indie film as opposed to some big Hollywood studio production. The high production quality and way the film was shot only added to how creepy this thing was. Don’t get me wrong, there were one or two ropey shots in the film where the shark didn’t look all that convincing, but they were more a rarity than a regular appearance in the film.

On the whole I thought the shark was done really well- and I won’t lie, legitimately terrifying in some of the scenes. The first moment you get a glimpse you barely get 2 or 3 frames before he claims his first victim; but it was enough for me to be like “Woah wait…what the hell was that?!” The first time you fully see the shark caught me off guard completely, completely unexpected and seemingly out of nowhere. The Toothy Bastard, as Des calls her, does that a few times; I jumped at least once- you have been warned!

The fact the team behind this brought this movie monster to life with a combination of both practical effects and computer-generated imagery, instead of just opting for an opt-and-out CGI shark just makes the shark itself and the film far more enjoyable. Fingers crossed the practical animatronic wasn’t as big a pain in the ass as Bruce was for Spielberg when he shot Jaws. Either way the end result was exceptional! This film doesn’t shy away from the horrors of war, or shark attacks for that matter, with audiences being treated to some incredibly gory (and wonderful) blood splattering moments throughout the film.

In regard to shark films the pinnacle is of course Jaws, with the sequel (Jaws 2- the third and fourth films don’t exist to me they’re that bad) trailing not far behind. Following that I’d go with Jaume Collet-Serra’s 2016 film The Shallows, and I’ll be honest after that I’d probably go with this one. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, and I will urge anyone to make the time to watch this- all in all it’s a great way to spend an hour and a half. The fact that this only has a 5.4 rating on IMDB is utterly criminal.

Lastly, huge thank you to Signature Entertainment for sending me a Blu-ray copy; I’m incredibly happy this one is now part of my physical media collection. One that I will no doubt be re-visiting again soon!

Beast of War is out on digital, DVD & Blu-ray now. You can check out the trailer below.