"The bear itself, lovingly referenced as Pablo Eskobear in marketing materials shouldn't be someone you cheer for as to be honest its body count is significant however there's no way you don't end up rooting for it"

So no matter how long its been since you first went on the internet we've probably all probably seen or heard the cocaine bear story, its become a meme to a certain extent. 

Actual details of what happened have been rumoured for years but what we do know is that in 1985 a drug smuggler had a parachute accident resulting in a fatality. Prior to this he had dropped tonnes of parcels of cocaine over Georgia’s Chattahoochee National Forest. This was then discovered by a black bear and whilst it was later found dead and jokingly dubbed “probably the worlds most apex killer” for a short time there wasn't a lot else to the story. 

Here is where the flick deviates, the action centres around two groups of people in said National Park, one a mother searching for her truant daughter then other group of two small crooks looking to reclaim the jettisoned drug packages.

At the bare bones of the story it's your standard, been done to death story and could have been something instantly forgettable.. However we get part throwback to older 80s classics, not being overly complex movies that were just fun to watch.

In my own opinion it owes a lot to Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series in its tone, it's very comedy horror in places and somewhat gory.

I was both impressed by the CGI used for the budget and knowing that this is sort of a bridge between indie and main stream movie making, making some of the lower end bits can be forgiven. The bear itself, lovingly referenced as Pablo Eskobear in marketing materials shouldn't be someone you cheer for as to be honest its body count is significant however there's no way you don't end up rooting for it.

The cast itself also works well, with Alden Ehrenreich, O'Shea Jackson Jr. and Keri Russell all performing superbly in their roles, it is worth mentioning that this is possibly Ray Liotta's final film as this was completed shortly before he died, he has a sizeable role although not a huge amount of screen time, he plays a welcomed dastardly villain and is again superb.

The soundtrack is expertly chosen also and perfectly suits the tone and approach, sometimes it's so 80s it hurts, as mentioned earlier it's most definitely a throwback and the credits/button scenes are punctuated well with White Lines by Grandmaster Flash playing throughout.

I'd rate Cocaine Bear as a definite 4 out 5, it's not overly long, doesn't take itself too seriously and lavishes the laughs and gore. 

Maybe not one to watch with the family unless you want to have some awkward conversations, oh and Game of Thrones fans watch out for a couple of brief but brilliant cameos from Kristofer Hivju who needs to do more comedy.