“Great cast that all seemed to have truly bonded through this film, the chemistry is palpable on screen”
A group of young soldiers, fresh out of boot camp, find themselves stranded on a raft in the middle of the ocean after their ship is sunk by the enemy and must battle for their lives against a giant hungry great white shark.
Directors: Kiah Roache-Turner

Writers: Kiah Roache-Turner

Mark Coles Smith, Lee Tiger Halley, Sam Parsonson, Sam Delich, Maximillian Johnson, Aswan Reid, Joel Nankervis, Tristan McKinnon
Cinematographer: Mark Wareham

Editing: Stephen Evans, Regg Skwarko, Kiah Roache-Turner

Music: François Tétaz

As of this review posting, there’s no release date for Beast of War.

I can’t imagine a film being more Aussie at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2025 than Beast of War. There’s plenty of swearing, banter, jokes about beer, and a group of soldiers taking on a shark in the middle of the ocean with a machine gun and some grenades — what’s more Aussie than that?

The introduction from director Kiah Roache-Turner before this MIFF screening set the tone perfectly. He explained that although Beast of War is based on actual events, those of Australian soldiers who were attacked and left floating in the Timor Sea, he had purposely set out to make a film that was loosely inspired by those events, but set out to make something less dire and sad than the true events. Given this is the director of Wyrmwood, tonally it made sense.

Leo (Mark Coles Smith) gives an unexpected First Nations aspect to the film. The first third of the film shows his squad’s bonding, and the lack of it when it comes to him and Des (Sam Delich), who is just a little too racist to rely on Leo for help. The film doesn’t go too hard in trying to show what Indigenous Australians went through in Australia during WWII. Still, given the film’s tongue-in-cheek approach to most elements, the jokes about Leo being paid a third of what the white Aussies are being paid are just something to make people think.

The first act does a great job of introducing our crew and main characters, and then quickly throws them into the literal deep end. An air-attack sends their ship into the ocean; just a handful of the soldiers are left clinging to a bit of metal floating in the middle of the sea. Yes, help might come, but the fog is so thick no one would see them. And given the days it could take, their drifting path back towards Australia isn’t helpful. But what’s worse is that a 20-foot Great White is circling them and looking for any opportunity to get a bite out of them.

As you’d want with a film with a shark setup like this one. There’s plenty of blood deaths; some involving limbs being bitten off, others the shark taking someone for a visceral shake through the ocean. The group can fight back in minimal ways, but they do have access to a small amount of ammunition and a weapon, plus a handful of grenades. Most of the action is achieved with practical effects as well. The shark itself, when interacting with the cast, looks great and is an animatronic one that plays well.

With a great cast that all seemed to have truly bonded through this film, the chemistry is palpable on screen. Sam Parsonson, in particular, has some great comedic timing with the rest of the cast as he plays someone with a head injury and delivers a recurring joke about finding the board and escaping that way.

[Dylan attended a screening of Beast of War thanks to the Melbourne International Film Festival]