To me, this movie is perfection.

Pretty Good

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The first thing I can tell from this movie, from an ex military point of view, is that it's actually realistic. Not only in terms of war tactics, weapons and hardware behavior, or history wise, etc - but also in the way it depicts people fighting during a war. People doing mistakes all the time, in ways that would be hilarious if it wasn't for the tragic consequences. That happens all the time, especially with lowly trained, poorly educated people such as the afghan fighters during the soviet war in Afghanistan.I'm sure there's a bit of cold war propaganda thrown in the mix (mostly thinking about the tank commander here, can't say much more without spoilers), but ultimately, what's interesting is that the soviets in this aren't all "bad" guys, by far, neither are necessarily the Mujahideens- if I'm not mistaken, the United States supported those during the Soviet Afghan war, yet this movie depicts some bad guys among those as well. The permanent struggle is well captured, and so is the claustrophobic tankist experience.It didn't age at all, too - in fact, it's a far better movie than the terrible "Fury" in all regards, and still pretty good to discover nowadays, which isn't a thing I could say about a lot of old war movies, even if a lot of people call some of these the best of all.

Almost no one saw this astounding movie when it came into the theaters, since it was in release so briefly it seemed like an after-thought. Even so it remains one of the best war movies made, and passing it up would be an error especially if you are a die-hard war movie fanatic.Kevin Reynolds ("water World") directs this movie expertly, with never a camera shot or bit of dialogue wasted in telling its compelling and relentless story. Once you get past the liberal use of artistic license (Russian crew members speak perfect English, with North American accents) the movie pulls you in and never lets go. The use of authentic Russian T-55 tanks (on loan from Israel, where the movie was filmed) and even a genuine Russian helicopter only heightens the story elements but never detracts from it (nobody ever says something like "See, look at all this fine Russian equipment, Dmitri! isn't this unusual?!") And what a story it is too. The movie opens with a superb action sequence: Peaceful Afghan village, suddenly we hear the "whoosh" of a shell hitting a structure and blowing it to pieces. In the next shot we are shown the source, 3 Russian tanks are attacking the village. The tank crews then proceed to devastate the place, with tank guns, machine guns, flame throwers, grenades and even poison gas. Nothing is too small to escape destruction, as the Soviets blow up the village minaret, machine-gun the live stock and even poison the well. The tank of the title (The beast") is even used as an instrument of execution for an enemy fighter.Their decimation done, the tanks then move off; two tanks go down the proper trail but "our" tank, at the orders of their mad-man of a tank commander, goes down the wrong trail. During the attack on the village, the lost tank had its radio shot out and can't communicate with their fellow Soviets and is now lost too. It is now isolated and alone, the perfect target for the Afghan mudjis sitting on a hill watching all this. They see the tank going off on its own, realize it is lost and vulnerable. So they gather their fellows, arm up with an RPG and other small arms, and follow the tank tracks in order to catch up to it and destroy it. What follows is a very tight, very taut action sequences with never a false move, plenty of interesting plot twists, and other elements that are best left unspoiled.I wish to repeat, no war movie fan should miss "The Beast" (often found retitled as "The beast of war"). In these days of CGI it's hard to believe a better war movie will come along anytime soon, if ever.

War/history movie buffs, this is a treat. We follow a Russian tank crew after a ruthless but botched up slaughter of a village during the USSR invasion of Afghanistan (approx. 1985). Tank (t55) gets hit, no more radio, tank gets lost in the barrens vs mujahideen. As the crew of 5 struggles throughout the wastelands and belligerent natives, we witness the disintegration of doctrines while humanity takes the upper hand. Poised, beautiful and cruel, this is one of the most touching yet realistic war movies I have yet seen. Displaying unbelievable landscapes, excellent music and impressive acting, this film is as good as classics such as Paths of Glory, Platoon or Full Metal Jacket. One of the best yet unknown war movies there is, with a very profound humane message. Deserves more praises than it got.

The exact story, I don't know; but it goes something along the lines of: The Beast of War was played at theaters for a short while. The company that distributed it, if not the production company that produced it, went bankrupt, was bought out by I forget whom, then redistributed to theaters under the title The Beast. That's what happened.So, yes: the only thing that really takes away from Beast is that we have our Soviet tankers speaking with American accents. Look past that and you have a war movie on par with Hamburger Hill or even Saving Private Ryan. The message that this one sends, I'll venture to say, has a lot more to say than Ryan, but let's not start with the comparisons and contrasts. (Personally, I like Ryan a whole lot, but I also think it is a tad overrated.)With Beast, you have to keep in mind the German invasion of the Soviet Union in the 1940s, specifically the siege of Stalingrad, which saw the Russians taking a victory over the "undefeatable" German army. This time around, the tables are reversed, and it's the Russians who are the aggressors. (Honestly, I still don't know what pretext was used for Soviet Russia to invade Afghanistan. I should read about that.) Jason Patric plays Konstantin Koverchenko, driver of the tank crew which has taken a wrong turn into a valley that has only one way in and out. Soviet ideology and his proclivity to "think for himself," apparently, don't mix well, and so when he and his crew are doggedly pursued by a band of Mujahadeen, he is more and more disillusioned with the Soviet invasion.To make matters worse, his tank commander Daskal (played by George Dzundza from The Deer Hunter) is an ardent Soviet—but more so war hawk— and when a dispute over a fellow crew member, an Afghan communist patriot, ends with the murder of that crew member, whom Koverchenko endeavoured to protect from Daskal's irrational suspicion—when that happens, proverbial sh—— hits the proverbial fan. To make a long story short, Koverchenko shifts loyalty to the Mujahadeen, for whom he has sympathy and admiration.One Mujahid in particular—Taj—is played by Steven Bauer from Scarface and Traffic fame. I am not an expert on Arabic, but he seemed pretty damn convincing to me as a freedom fighter. We also have in the tank crew Stephen Baldwin in, perhaps, his best role apart from The Usual Suspects. We also have Don Harvey, who has been, and probably will always be, type-casted as the scumbag character. (If you do not know whom I speak of, he is the fellow from Creepshow 2, Casualties of War, Tank Girl, and why don't we include Die Hard 2 for extra measure? The only movie that I can think of right now where he doesn't play a scumbag is perhaps The Untouchables. You could put The Thin Red Line in there if you'd like, but it's such a small part that… well, I don't know.)In any case, what we have is a bunch of a character actors and one semi- starring actor taking on an ambitious project. The product is gold. Mark Isham's score is something of a highlight itself. Seriously, this movie is such a downer if you really think about it. (Mark Isham, by the way, also scored Crash. So-so movie, badass OST.) Dour, yes, and bittersweet, too. On top of that, The Beast has one of the best endings I've ever seen in my lifetime. I mean, it really stays with you.Zauber Zerão, die zauberkatze