Based on the true story of Andrew Thornton, a former police narcotics investigator turned drug runner, who, through a disastrous attempt at smuggling drugs, caused a black bear to ingest a stomach full of cocaine and consequently die from an overdose, Cocaine Bear is an ode to that coke-fiend critter who is now stuffed and displayed in a Kentucky mall.
The opening sequence of Cocaine Bear follows the lore closely as it opens on drug smuggler Andrew Thornton, played by Matthew Rhys, who is frantically throwing parcels of cocaine out of a failing plane, and as he jumps from the impending crash, his parachute fails and his body lands in Knoxville, Tennessee where local detective Bob links him to drug kingpin Syd White. Meanwhile, the packages of drugs have fallen into a national forest in Georgia and are ingested by a large black bear. As Syd White’s henchman and son search for the cocaine, an array of characters come across the aggressive drug fueled bear that include two children ditching school, a mom searching for said children, a park ranger and a wildlife activist. Fighting for their lives against an ultra enhanced apex predator with an insatiable drug habit leads to much dismemberment and carnage.
Directed by Elizabeth Banks and starring an ensemble cast consisting of Keri Russell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Alden Ehrenreich, O’Shea Jackson Jr, Isaiah Whitlock Jr and the late Ray Liotta, Cocaine Bear is a hark back to the creature feature horror films that inundated the first time round in the 70s that included Jaws (1975) and the original Piranha (1978) and again in the 90s including Lake Placid (1999) and Anaconda (1997). The Universal Pictures produced comedy horror is silly and at times utterly ridiculous, yet anyone placing these qualities in a negative light is completely missing the point at how unbelievable the origin story actually is. The film adaptation of this incredible true crime story retains the laugh out loud and entertaining traits of creature features from thirty years ago, and if the sight of a towering black bear doing a line off of a dismembered leg doesn’t elicit the same amount of amusement that a certain Betty White feeding a cow to a colossal mutant crocodile does, then you’re as dead as one of Cocaine Bear’s victims.
Cocaine Bear is out now on Universal 4K UHD, Blu-Ray & DVD
