Beast of War (FANTASTIC) is a Great Shark Movie Lost in a Sea of Mediocrity

Title: Beast of War

First Non-Festival Release: August 22, 2025 (Theatrical Release)

Director: Kiah Roache-Turner

Writer: Kiah Roache-Turner

Runtime: 87 Minutes

Starring: Mark Coles Smith, Joel Nankervis, Sam Delich

Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here

This film’s review was written after its screening at the Fantastic Film Festival in 2025.

Loosely based on the true events of the sinking of the HMAS Armidale and taking inspiration from the true events that happened to the USS Indianapolis, Beast of War shows that the enemy isn’t the only danger on the battlefield.

In the throes of World War II, an Australian warship carrying 200 soldiers is left broken and abandoned when a Japanese plane blows it to smithereens. Among the few survivors aboard is Leo (Mark Coles Smith), an Indigenous soldier with a strong sense of duty and an inescapable trauma that lingers throughout the ordeal. Protective over the younger and weaker Will (Joel Nankervis), Leo does his best to maintain calm and steer the survivors out of danger. Along the way, he will have to face off against Japanese pilots, peers with racism addled brains, and a fiercely deadly shark.

A solid shark survival horror story, Beast of War proves that the magic and terror of the ocean’s most feared predator still has juice in it.

Starting with an obligatory training prologue in the jungle, Beast of War establishes character dynamics and the stakes of war long before the marine terror even graces the screen. In the midst of the Second World War, there’s a clear element of uncertainty amongst the men. With promises of warfare distant in their future, the soldiers are more content to beat each other up in the meantime. Training for war as an Aboriginal man is already difficult enough with the barriers in place, but Leo still has to contend with the same realities as his fellow soldiers too. It may last a touch too long, but this introduction ensures that Beast of War doesn’t get bogged down in the waters when it counts most. 

Using the shark as a metaphor for the ever-present, impending danger in war, Beast of War shows just how unprepared men can be for loss and survival when they are actually in the line of fire. Shockingly enough, most of the deaths in war don’t happen via shark wounds. Explosions, shrapnel, and last resort hand-to-hand confrontations are far more common ways to die. Beast of War reflects this in its body count. Even when they are lost at sea with a shark on their tail, their rest never comes thanks to the equally looming threat of the skies. By never allowing its characters to get comfortable (from boot camp to sleeping quarters to drifting in the ocean on a makeshift raft), Beast of War mimics the physical and mental exhaustion of war.

Mark Coles Smith is a captivating and capable leading man as resilient solider, Leo. Mangetic onscreen in nearly every way, Coles Smith effortlessly takes charge as Leo. Dusting off slurs, shrapnel, and shark teeth, he balances the strength of the action star with the internal turmoil and fear of a horror lead. It never feels impossible either. Coles Smith, much like Leo, commands from presence alone. He isn’t all brawls and beasts, either. In its softer moments, Beast of War gets reflective on the childhood trauma that so deeply shapes Leo. Transitioning these more vulnerable moments into scenes of terror and despair, Coles Smith makes it easy to root for Leo. Coles Smith’s all-in performance for the creature feature will surely earn goodwill from genre cinephiles.

It doesn’t quite reach levels of the great shark films before it, but Beast of War manages to craft a few solid scares amidst the more dramatic tension between men. Drawing more on atmosphere than sheer terror, Beast of War takes on a surreal, dream-like glow as Leo and crew try to survive the elements. With so many vantage points for danger, Beast of War allows these competing antagonists to work in tandem against the soldiers. This creates an environment where the audience is on edge as much as the characters.

The shark, of course, garners the most attention. Designed to look menacing, easy to do with a slowly dying bomb siren croaking from beneath the waves where it is attached to the shark post initial explosion, she lurks underneath the hapless soldiers. Shown just enough to be threatening but not enough to oversaturate, Beast of War understands the delicate balance a creature feature must land. While the tension may be uneven, the payoff remains exhilarating.

Lurking beneath the surface of an ocean of duds, Beast of War is a great example of how intentional filmmaking can pull off notoriously difficult high concept films. Anchored by a strong leading performance by Coles Smith, intentional shark design and implementation, and the hazy, atmospheric approach to creature feature horror, Beast of War defies the obstacles shark films normally face. It never quite reaches true greatness, but Kiah Roache-Turner’s foray into the horrors of war is a solid enough effort in a struggling sub-genre to commend. Shark horror may not ebb towards greatness but that’s what makes little gems like Beast of War all the more precious.

Overall Score? 7/10