Ben Affleck Releases Animals on Netflix to Mixed Reviews

Ben Affleck's crime thriller Animals began streaming worldwide on Netflix on October 9, 2026, introducing audiences to a kidnapping story intertwined with political ambition, family conflict, and economic inequality in Los Angeles. Affleck directs, co-writes, and stars in the film, which features Kerry Washington, Gillian Anderson, Steven Yeun, and Luis Gerardo Méndez.

The story centers on Mark Kimball, an independent candidate running for mayor of Los Angeles whose campaign consumes most of his available money. His circumstances deteriorate when kidnappers demand $7 million for the safe return of his young son, forcing him and his wife, Abigail, to confront a crisis involving wealth, privilege, and difficult moral choices.

According to Vulture's review, the kidnapping takes an unexpected turn when the family discovers that the criminals have mistakenly abducted the child of Ramón, an undocumented worker connected to their household. The revelation shifts the central dilemma from securing their own son's release to deciding whether to pay for the return of another family's child.

Affleck's film draws on the premise of Akira Kurosawa's 1963 thriller High and Low, arriving relatively soon after Spike Lee's Highest 2 Lowest offered another contemporary interpretation of the same material. Vulture criticized Animals for failing to develop its social themes convincingly, while The Guardian highlighted similarities between the films' kidnapping plots and questioned how effectively the newer production adapted its source material.

The Guardian also described the film's central predicament as a promising foundation for a thriller but criticized its execution and limited exploration of Los Angeles politics.

The production brings together several established performers, with Anderson playing Dayle Burton, a powerful fixer who offers assistance at a substantial financial cost. Her character advises the Kimballs as they navigate the ransom crisis, while Steven Yeun portrays Sam, Mark's campaign manager, who pushes his employer toward consequential decisions.

Washington plays Abigail, a psychiatrist whose strained marriage and personal difficulties add another layer to the unfolding crisis. Meanwhile, Ramón's efforts to recover his child introduce the experiences of a less privileged family into a story otherwise dominated by wealthy political figures.

Vulture criticized the screenplay for leaving several character conflicts underdeveloped, including Abigail's affair and the family's broader emotional tensions. The review also argued that Affleck's performance did not consistently convey the complexity of Mark's predicament.

The Guardian similarly found the film visually polished but lacking in atmosphere, despite the involvement of cinematographer Robert Elswit, whose credits include Affleck's The Town and Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood. The publication also criticized the film's largely confined settings and its climactic confrontation.

Other critics offered more favorable assessments. Reel Talk with Chuck and Pam described the film as "Derivative but effective, Ben Affleck's Animals takes the premise from Akira Kurasowa's 1963 thriller High and Low and puts a modern spin on it to look at the social and cultural divided in today's America," praising its contemporary framing of the original premise.

Blu-ray.com offered a more balanced assessment, writing, "Animals isn't a rousing thriller, but Affleck lands many scenes of suspense, and brings together a capable team of actors to explore the pressurised situation," while FandomWire characterized the production as "tightly-wound, aggressive and ruthless".

Awards Radar also praised the film's pace, describing it as "Animals is a dark and twisty thriller from Affleck, one that's lean and mean. There's an efficiency on display here that keeps things moving, both to distract from some of the sillier elements, but also to keep your blood pumping."

Screen Rant reached the opposite conclusion, stating, "In the end, Animals is utterly unremarkable and at times fatally boring. There are lots of kernels of good ideas that are all left to die on the vine." The Guardian called the film "a movie that just wants to get the job done with frictionless likability, with seemingly no one inquiring about why," while The New York Times described it as "extraordinarily flat".

Digital Spy reported that Animals received a 45% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 22 reviews at the time of its October 9 report. The range of responses reflects disagreement over whether the film's cast, suspense sequences, and contemporary social themes compensate for its criticized screenplay and execution.

Animals runs for approximately 100 minutes without credits and is available to stream on Netflix.