Love the Beast (2010)

Lack of good storyline.

Brilliant and touching

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

...........................................................from Pasto,Colombia...Via: L.A. CA., CALI, COLOMBIA...and ORLANDO, FL My wife and I caught this at the Orlando Film Festival. Overall, I'm glad we did. GENRES Listed here for LOVE The BEAST are: Documentary; Sports Documentaries; Car Culture; Motorsports...among others. They should have added: Eric Bana! The three major draws here are: A) Car Culture--If you are REALLY into cars, you'll probably LOVE it! As one would tend to gather from the title, The BEAST is an extremely intense labor of love. When you come right down to it, this film is more love story than it is Documentary.B) Racing-- Over half this "DOC" is full-bore, super-charged racing in the 5-day, grueling annual race in Tasmania. There are some excellent crash sequences, taken with on-board cameras; and, of course...C) Eric Bana--I think he is the primary reason my wife seemed to enjoy this a tad more than I did! Despite the fact that neither of us have more than a tepid interest in any of the A) B) or C) options, we were surprised at how much we both enjoyed BEAST. Watching someone on screen share a single-mindedness of purpose that is the result of a lifelong passion/obsession, is virally infectious! It is certainly something you almost never encounter in the workaday world.So overwhelming and intimidating are Bana's energy, focus and "try, try, try again" determination, that it gives me pause to re-evaluate his movie acting career and watch more films in which he appears! Please note that Eric Bana also Directs and is listed as one of the Producers. So, LOVE the BEAST is a classic example of putting your money where your muffler is! Ooops! Wait a minute...600+ Horsepower Racing Muscle Cars don't have mufflers, now do they?! My Rating: 8* My wife's: 9*.....ENJOY/DISFRUTELA!

I was lent this on DVD a long time ago, and didn't get round to watching it, partly because I was worried that it would be a disappointment. I have taken part in Rallying for 7 years, and have been lucky enough to compete at a high level in an amateur capacity, and was worried the film would just be a "movie star spends a lot of money on a passing fad" affair, badly made and insincere, and the presence of Jeremy Clarkson on the credits added to this.I couldn't have been more wrong.From the beginning, this film appears to be a labour of love, and explanation of an obsession and a journey that has taken the majority of Eric Bana's life. It is beautiful to look at (aside from the quality of the in-car footage which sadly is a victim of the technology of a few years ago), and a real tribute to how Eric feels about his car and his relationship with his friends and family, with the car having been the centrepiece of this relationship - an excuse to get together which often men need to do so. It takes us through the history of the car, its transformations over the years including the current one to compete in the 2007 Targa Tasmania rally, 11 years after their first entry.The feeling of competing and more importantly how it makes us feel is well articulated, and the relationship between Eric and his navigator is one I know well, and felt myself laughing when they behaved as I have done on the stages with little jokes between the crew or being told off for going too quickly or told to "GO!" when it was time to hurry up.*SPOILER* - when the car is crashed, it is covered in a way which doesn't just show what happened, it shows the effect of it on the crew and their friends and family, and how they re-evaluate their relationship with the car and what it has meant to them over the years. Having been in the position that Eric Bana was, I really related to what he was saying about the car and what it meant to him, and also Dr Phil's description of the relationship between people and their cars. Seeing Eric's reaction to it was extremely interesting, particularly when he said he'd rather have a broken arm or leg than have 'killed' the car, and his apology to his navigator straight after the accident is something I completely identified with.I feel that I've really learned something by watching this film - not only about Eric Bana's relationship with his friends via his car, but also my own. It articulated the feelings that cars and specifically rallying evokes far better than I've ever managed or even realised - so much so that I'd say it was the kind of film that anyone who knows someone who competes or who is car obsessed should watch, as it'll probably explain it far better than anyone else could, and into the bargain you'll have an enjoyable 90 minutes watching a well-made and honest film.

I saw the interview with the star of Chopper, Hulk and Troy on Top Gear where they mentioned this film, it did sound relatively interesting, and it was the actor's directorial debut, so I thought I'd see it. Basically this documentary sees Eric Bana talking about his relationship with his favourite car of all time, his Beast, and the car he hopes to race in The Targa Tasmania Rally, his Ford GT Falcon Coupe. He explains it is the car he saw in the film Mad Max and he has owned it for twenty-five years, and for all those years he has done everything he can both to keep it going, but also turn it into a proper racing car. He believes, and Jeremy Clarkson confirms with him, that most people think of cars as just something to help you travel, but they both believe that they are like living beings. Jay Leno also expresses his interest in cars with his garage of hundreds of old and new models and how much each one means to him, and he would never get rid of one. Bana also wonders if his car has a significance to his life, and Dr. Phil McGraw knows that if you have a passion for something you want to keep it going and never give up until you get some kind of result. So we see flashes of Bana's past with his love for fast cars, getting his Beast, the preparations for the race, and of course the race itself, which has a bad result when he accidentally crashes into a tree. It is interesting to see how passionate you can be about the most inanimate things, but at the same time, you can relate, I mean, there must be something unlikely in your life that means something to you. Worth watching!

I'm getting pretty fed up with people saying that this movie is for "car lovers only" because it's simply not true. This movie is for many people, collectors, Eric Bana fans, people who have a passion and want to see other people's passions etc.It's a movie about racing and cars, about Eric Bana's car that has been a part of his life for a very long time, that right there is so beautiful to see. Eric Bana's relationship to his car is amazing, you would have to see it to believe it. And people who don't understand the love for cars will truly get a different opinion after seeing this film because it will grow on you, you will see how much something made out of tin parts (and then some) can become such passion and such love because of how long it will stick with you.And to Eric Bana fans, if you love Eric Bana like I have, you HAVE TO see this movie. To me, Eric Bana is very much like his car is to him, I've grown up with Eric Bana and his movies and seen him grow as an actor, it feels as if he's my friend as with a couple of different actors. And if you really almost feel like he's family, you will have the same feelings as he does for his cars when you see how heartbreaking some scenes in this movie are. You will also see Eric Bana before a big movie premiere of his movie "Lucky You", it's a very rare glimpse into his life and how he feels before going to a premiere, it's quite cool and you'll see how awesome and down to earth he truly seems.But do keep in mind that this is a documentary, it is mostly for car lovers, true, but it can still grow on you, because let's face it, it's not all just cars.8/10