'Cocaine Bear' review: The thrill can kill

Does a bear snort coke in the woods? Hell, yes! It happened in 1985, when police found a huge black bear dead after it ripped into bags of cocaine that drug runners dropped in a Georgia forest. The bear had apparently ingested 70 pounds of the white powder and overdosed.

That stranger-than-fiction binge is the inspiration for "Cocaine Bear," an animal-attack comedy with ‘80s B-movie horror vibes slathered in gore guffaws. It’s basically a killer-shark movie, but on land, and with a "demented" black bear instead of a great white. The movie is not for the squeamish (I lost track of all the disembodied limbs), but, as Yogi would say, it’s better than your average bear.

Credit director – and Massachusetts native – Elizabeth Banks for keeping us hooked. She’s aided by a propulsive rock soundtrack (Scandal’s "The Warrior") and a game-for-anything cast piling on the lunacy with shovels full of deadpan humor. Banks, who also helmed "Pitch Perfect 2" and 2019's "Charlie's Angels," amps up the excitement to a frenzy by weaving together the deadly misadventures of four groups encountering the bad-news bear.

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Keri Russell ("Antlers") is a single mom on the hunt for her truant 13-year-old daughter (Brooklynn Prince, "The Florida Project") and the girl’s friend (Christian Convery, "Sweet Tooth"). The kids take off for the aptly named Blood Mountain to find its hidden waterfall. On the way, they stumble upon a bag of cocaine, which they decide to open. And we're off.

The great character actress Margo Martindale is Forest Ranger Liz, a peacekeeper who can’t shoot straight and has her heart set on a fling with her partner, played by Jesse Ferguson ("Modern Family").

Ice Cube’s son O’Shea Jackson Jr. ("Straight Outta Compton") and young Han Solo, Alden Ehrenreich, share barbs as bickering drug dealers Daveed and Eddie. They are on a mission to retrieve the $2 million stash that landed in the woods after a drug drop gone bad. Isiah Whitlock Jr. is the no-nonsense police detective on a hunt of his own. The late Ray Liotta steals every scene he's in as the local kingpin.

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Rounding out the terrific ensemble are a dimwitted teenager (Aaron Holliday), a lost hiker (Kristofer Hivju from "Game of Thrones"), and the two unluckiest EMTs ever (Kahyun Kim and Scott Seiss). As the ill-fated real-life smuggler setting the events in motion, Matthew Rhys (like Russell and Martindale, a vet of "The Americans") falls to his death in a hilarious opener that sets the campy tone.

From Russell’s pink jumpsuit to O’Shea’s preoccupation with his Air Jordans, Banks gleefully decks her film out in kitschy 1980s paraphernalia, including clips of old "This is your brain on drugs" fried-egg commercials, and we're treated to a reprise of Nancy Reagan's infamous "the thrill can kill" spiel on national television.

The story, culled from a funny, breakneck script by Jimmy Warden, imagines what would have happened if the bear did not die and instead runs amok throughout Chattahoochee National Forest, attacking an oddball group of hikers, rangers and the AWOL teenagers. After her first taste, the bear takes to the sweet-smelling powder like Paddington to marmalade. A murderous rampage ensues.

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Eventually, the script turns into a game of "who will be picked off next?" Stuff gets crazy. How crazy? I will not say because it's so much fun finding out for yourself.  You come away from "Cocaine Bear" fully knowing the folly of drugs, but for the duration of this lean 95-minute adventure, you’re addicted to the ride.

‘Cocaine Bear’

Rating: R for bloody violence and gore, drug content and language

Cast: Keri Russell, Margo Martindale, Ray Liotta, Alden Ehrenreich, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Kristofer Hivju, Christian Convery, Brooklynn Prince, Scott Seiss

Director: Elizabeth Banks

Writer: Jimmy Warden

Running time: 95 minutes

Where to watch: In theaters Friday

Grade: B+

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Massachusetts native Elizabeth Banks directs crazy 'Cocaine Bear'