Cocaine Bear

 Yes, really.

Cocaine Bear is based on a bizarre true story up to a point. What director Elizabeth Banks and writer Jimmy Warden do beyond that point gives us a violently hilarious thriller. Here's how it went down in real life:

In 1985, corrupt narcotics officer turned smuggler Andrew C. Thornton II (Matthew Rhys) offloaded some cocaine over the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest. His parachuting to safety went wrong, which the movie attributes to him conking his head on the way out (though the bunch of stuff he had on him in real life didn't help). A few months later, a black bear was found dead in the forest, having overdosed on Thornton's supply.

The movie's Cocaine Bear - whom I'll call Ursa for convenience - instead becomes highly addicted and dangerous. Unaware of this, Thornton's superior Syd (Ray Liotta, in one of his last films) dispatches his fixer, Daveed (O'Shea Jackson Jr.) and his estranged son, Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich), after the cargo. Detective Bob (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.) goes on their trail. Meanwhile, middle-schoolers Dee Dee (Brooklynn Prince) and Henry (Christian Convery) skip school for a nature walk. Her mom, Sari (Keri Russell), goes on their trail. A few other characters, including two hikers (Kristofer Hivju and Hannah Hoekstra) and a park ranger named Liz (Margo Martindale), run into Ursa. It's up to everyone else to get out of the woods alive.

It sounds like a lot for 95 minutes. But it makes great use of its time. On one side, we get Henry and Sari looking for Dee Dee when Ursa carries her off. On the other, Daveed and Eddie look for a duffel bag with the help of the hooligan Stache (Aaron Holiday). Ursa's threat looms over them and she makes good use of it as she eviscerates through the cast. You'll be laughing and sweating when, for example, two paramedics (Scott Seiss and Kahyun Kim) encounter Ursa and flee with Liz in their ambulance, with Ursa in pursuit. It doesn't end well for them. All the more incentive to get you hoping the mains will get out alive.

Ursa was played through motion capture by actor Allan Henry. The impressive visual effects help us get to know Ursa more and more. Her addiction is played for laughs - especially when it's met with baffled onlookers - until she attacks. We still sympathize with her as an innocent addict when she first appears stumbling loopily through the woods. Her audience empathy goes up when her cubs appear. Yes, she's a mama bear, and the climax lets her loose on her only deserving victim. There were a few obviously cartoonish shots but those don't detract from her screen presence.

Now for some of the human cast. Rhys's cameo is the standout, as he goes full ham as Thornton before his stupid death. Henry gets the best lines when he essentially explains the film's premise. He and Dee Dee are likable kids, which also helps invest you in their plight. Sari gets her best moment when she stands up to Syd, who himself is a bit sympathetic when we learn about his superiors. Daveed and Eddie's rapport is great, especially when Stache is thrown into the mix. Martindale makes the most of her screentime as Liz, being both funny and sympathetic. I can go on, but I can't.

Cocaine Bear is an outlandish film. That makes it all the more fun and scarier. It helps having a good human cast and a delightful score from Mark Mothersbaugh to draw you in. It also helps that it never loses steam thanks to its efficient storytelling and editing. It really helps that its titular animal is a formidable screen presence. This is no ordinary film based on a true story, that's for sure. See it soon to see what I mean. You won't regret it.