Fresh off the sale of his AI post-production and visual effects startup, InterPositive, to Netflix for over $500 million in cash, Ben Affleck steps into the roles of both director and lead actor for Animals. Originally intended as a vehicle for his frequent collaborator Matt Damon, who had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts, the film serves as a loose remake of Akira Kurosawa’s classic High and Low.

Affleck plays Mark, an independent candidate running for mayor of Los Angeles. Affleck utilizes contemporary L.A. anxieties, such as post-fire community concerns, to position Mark as a man of the people and a viable alternative to the two-party system. However, behind the scenes, Mark’s campaign is a financial disaster; he has drained his entire inheritance to stay in the race and is heavily reliant on loans. His manager, Sam (Steven Yeun), is desperately trying to secure the Latino vote to boost Mark’s struggling numbers and prevent total ruin

The tension of campaign life is abruptly shattered on Halloween evening. Mark’s housekeeper, Cecilia (Adriana Paz), volunteers to take Mark’s young son, Denny (Christopher Woodley), trick-or-treating. They are joined by Cecilia’s son, Hector, and her boyfriend, Ramon (Luis Gerardo Mendez), for whom she has been seeking Mark’s help in gaining American citizenship. The evening takes a dark turn when a mystery man contacts Mark, claiming to have kidnapped Denny and demanding a multi-million-dollar ransom that Mark simply does not have.

To secure the funds, Mark is forced to turn to Dayle (Gillian Anderson), a highly secretive fixer with quick access to millions. Dayle adds to the pressure by demanding a percentage of the ransom as her payment. The film confines most of its action to Mark’s mansion, using the claustrophobic setting to explore the deep-seated dysfunction between Mark and his wife, Abigail (Kerry Washington), a therapist. On the verge of divorce due to Mark’s political obsession and Abigail’s own private distractions, the couple is forced into a high-stress scenario where they must reveal secrets and thaw the ice between them to save their son.

The decision to center the film in Los Angeles works well, with Affleck successfully weaving the city’s diverse cultures into the narrative without ignoring its underlying racial tensions. This dynamic is sharply illustrated when Abigail confides her suspicion to Sam that Mark is using her as a political prop. In a blunt response, Sam counters that being married to a Black woman is actually a liability for Mark’s campaign.

While the script by Affleck, Billy Ray, and Connor O. McIntyre successfully juggles the intersecting perspectives of the central couple, the campaign staff, and the household workers, it falters in its final act. The strong, secure performances from the supporting cast anchor the film’s tense psychological study of character and marriage.

However, Animals struggles to land its resolution, shifting jarringly from tight psychological torment to a more conventional thriller-style conclusion that ultimately feels like an odd and underwhelming fit.