Animals review – Ben Affleck’s dull Netflix thriller is lacking in bark and bite

Actor-director’s listless LA-set crime thriller makes for a surprisingly anonymous effort and one that feels very similar to many other, better filmsBen Affleck has pushed through multiple Hollywood comebacks, at least one predicated on his facility behind the camera, directing Boston-based thrillers both artistically ambitious (Gone Baby Gone) and juicily crowd-pleasing (The Town). So now that his acting career seems particularly stable, as he works steadily and produces movies via the company he founded with longtime friend and collaborator Matt Damon, why does his directing career remain in what seems like post-Oscar doldrums? (Though he has never been nominated for a best director Oscar, his film Argo won best picture in 2013.) His new movie Animals appears perfectly situated within his wheelhouse: it’s a Los Angeles-based crime-and-politics thriller to match his earlier east coast work. The real surprise, however, is just how listless it can get.Affleck himself plays Mark Kimball, a Angeleno running for mayor of his home town. His status as an independent non-party-affiliated candidate (and one who scarcely exhibits a trace of a platform in what little we see of his stump spe…

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