Animals: Ben Affleck stars in this thriller about a politician who can’t hide his ugly side

By Daniel O'Brien, Lecturer, Department of Literature Film and Theatre Studies, University of Essex

As the new Netflix thriller Animals began, I wasn’t sure how its 106-minute runtime was going to keep me sympathetic to the plight of a wealthy American politician. Ben Affleck, directed, co-wrote and stars in the film as Mark Kimball, a Los Angeles mayoral candidate.

Animals begins with Kimball staking much of his wealth and financial security on an election campaign. The final hurdle to securing the seat involves winning over the city’s Latino voters. The film opens to a montage of Kimball feigning his affability for votes, which results quite quickly in a hollow and unlikeable protagonist,…

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