The actor plays the father of two young girls who must defend his family against a rogue lion who was traumatized by poachers
Idris Elba is in for the fight of his life in the trailer for his new thriller Beast.
The clip, which dropped Wednesday, shows the Suicide Squad star squaring off against a vicious lion while trying to defend his daughters from the predator’s attacks.
The trailer begins with Elba arriving at a game reserve in Mopane, South Africa, with his children played by This Is Us star Iyana Halley and Empire’s Leah Jeffries.
Soon, their relaxed exploration of the local wildlife turns deadly when their group — led by an old family friend and wildlife biologist played by Sharlto Copley — happens upon a wounded man in the road who speaks of the “devil.”
Beast
They proceed to visit a village where several wounded people lay, as Copley’s character says, “I’ve never seen anything like this. Multiple attacks, without eating its prey.”
“Lions don’t do that,” he continues. “At least no lion I’ve ever seen.”
An intense sequence follows in which the men realize they’re being stalked, with Elba running for his life back to the Jeep where his girls are as the lion lunges at him.
With the animal on top of it, the Jeep careens out of control, crashing into a tree with the family of three trapped inside.
As Elba tries to calm his girls down, they realize they are still being hunted by the wild animal, seen observing them from a ledge above.
“We’re in his territory now,” Copley is heard in voice-over. “It’s the law of the jungle, it’s the only law that matters.”
A description accompanying the trailer from Universal Pictures explains that the rogue lion is “a survivor of blood-thirsty poachers who now sees all humans as the enemy.”
The pulse-pounding trailer ends with footage of Elba engaged in what looks to be hand-to-hand combat with the savage cat.
