Ben Affleck’s new Netflix thriller Animals is here — and it’s not the reinvention fans hoped for.
Ben Affleck’s latest directorial, Animals, has landed on Netflix — and it’s not the comeback many were hoping for. The 106-minute political thriller, which sees Affleck playing a wealthy L.A. Mayoral candidate whose son is kidnapped just before election day, arrives with all the trappings of a prestige drama: high-stakes premise, real-world parallels, a star-studded cast including Kerry Washington as his wife.
But according to Slash Film, it’s also one of Affleck’s weakest efforts yet. The film, which premiered in October 2026, draws comparisons to Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low, but fails to match its emotional precision or narrative rigor. Gillian Anderson plays Dayle, a fixer so stylised she feels like a caricature, while Affleck’s performance as Mark Kimball is described as emotionally flat, even as the script leans into themes of class, power, and personal collapse.
What’s more, the film’s release was overshadowed by controversy. Affleck publicly admitted using generative AI for “lots of things” during production. A move that rubbed some viewers the wrong way, especially given the film’s already thin execution. As Slash Film notes, Animals feels like a Netflix movie in all the worst ways: polished but hollow, urgent but unearned.
It’s not the first time Affleck’s directing career has stumbled. His 2016 crime epic Live by Night, set during Prohibition and starring him as a Boston gangster turned Florida rum-runner, was panned for uneven pacing and a miscast lead. Even the cinematography, courtesy of Robert Richardson. Couldn’t save it.
That film, at two hours and eight minutes, felt rushed despite its decade-spanning arc. Animals, by contrast, is barely over an hour and a half, but still doesn’t feel tight. It’s a pressure cooker that never quite heats up. Which leaves us with the only truly strong entry in Affleck’s six-director filmography: Air.
The 2023 sports drama about Nike’s signing of Michael Jordan. With Matt Damon as Sonny Vaccaro and Affleck as Phil Knight, was both a commercial hit and a statement piece. It was the first project from Affleck and Damon’s production company, Artists Equity, which gives cast and crew profit-sharing rights.
The film’s success wasn’t just financial. It was ideological. A story about underdogs, yes. But also about fair share.
Now, with Animals out and underwhelming, the question isn’t whether Affleck can direct again. It’s whether he still wants to. The next step? Wait for the reviews.
And see if anyone actually watches it twice.
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