THE LION EATS TONIGHT

A New York doctor, still grieving the death of his wife, decides to take their two daughters to South Africa, the homeland of the girls’ mother, for a visit to her modest village in that country’s answer to the Australian Outback.

Idris Elba is the devoted dad, and the girls--Mare, played by Iyana Halley, and the younger Norah, played by Leah Jeffries--soon find themselves on safari, accompanied with suitable swagger by dad’s old pal and nature vigilante Sharlto Copley (“District 9”).

At one point early on, Copley visits with some lion companions that show him both affection and deference and the scene had me wondering how the production managed to pull off the reunion. I suppose animal trainers can do wonders with otherwise notorious man-eaters. But never for a moment did I envy Copley.

What these eager eco-tourists don’t know is that poachers have just massacred a pride of lions in a nature reserve, save one vengeful male that’s keen on payback.

You don’t go into a movie like this expecting everyone to die, especially an A-lister like Elba, so the thrills are in seeing how close they come to “Jaws”-like encounters.

Director Baltasar Kormakur stages some superb jump scares and often keeps the heart pounding with long sequences in which nothing much happens but that you know will lead to something horrific, a heart-stopping scene or two that easily earn the flick its R-rating.

The lion, like the bear in “The Revenant,” is not what it seems. Which is to say what’s on the screen appears more life-threatening than what the actors encountered in real life. But CG aside, the effect is seamless and the threats to the family all the more real.

One scene near the end is so vividly realized, you find yourself wondering how any human could survive this no-holds-barred, man-versus-beast duel to the death.

But killing off Elba, so late in the game, would upend moviegoers’ expectations. Still, knowing that, I found myself rooting for the good doctor.

Elba here again proves why he is one of our finest actors, even if he appears to be slumming in a story that unfolds largely by the numbers. And yet the young women show surprising skill playing opposite him.

“Beast” is a tough-minded tale of survival, much like the director’s earlier “Adrift.” But even if you have an inkling early on of how it all ends up, you’ll still be amazed by the ride.