Gillian Anderson's "twisty" crime thriller with Ben Affleck has just been added to Netflix

Animals, the highly-anticipated crime thriller from Ben Affleck, is now streaming worldwide after being added to Netflix. Featuring a "twisty" narrative and a stellar supporting cast, this is a perfect watch over the weekend.

The film sees Affleck, who also serves as a director and co-writer, play Mark Kimball, a mayoral candidate for Los Angeles. His life is upended, however, when his son is kidnapped by a ruthless gang of criminals.

With the support of his wife Abigail (Kerry Washington), Mark attempts to find some ransom money to rectify the situation. But with a lot of funds being spent on his political campaign, he has to get his hands dirty if he wants to save his son.

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Featuring Steven Yeun and Gillian Anderson in supporting roles, the eagerly awaited crime thriller has garnered a mixed response from critics thus far, with Rotten Tomatoes currently reporting an approval rating of 45% from 22 reviews.

"Derivative but effective, Ben Affleck's Animals takes the premise from Akira Kurasowa's 1963 thriller High and Low and puts a modern spin on it to look at the social and cultural divided in today's America," wrote Reel Talk with Chuck and Pam.

"Animals isn't a rousing thriller, but Affleck lands many scenes of suspense, and brings together a capable team of actors to explore the pressurised situation," noted Blu-ray.com, while FandomWire called it "tightly-wound, aggressive and ruthless".

Awards Radar was full of praise, writing: "Animals is a dark and twisty thriller from Affleck, one that's lean and mean. There's an efficiency on display here that keeps things moving, both to distract from some of the sillier elements, but also to keep your blood pumping."

Screen Rant was less impressed, however, remarking: "In the end, Animals is utterly unremarkable and at times fatally boring. There are lots of kernels of good ideas that are all left to die on the vine."

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"This is a movie that just wants to get the job done with frictionless likability, with seemingly no one inquiring about why," opined The Guardian, while The New York Times dubbed it "extraordinarily flat".

If you'd rather not stay in this weekend and instead head to the cinema, then there's plenty of offerings on the big screen, with The Uprising, The Social Reckoning and The Yellow Tie all being released today.

Animals is now streaming on Netflix.

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Reporter, Digital Spy George is a freelance writer who specialises in Movies and TV. After graduating with a degree in Film Studies and Journalism from De Montfort University, in which he analysed the early works of Richard Linklater for his dissertation, he wrote for several websites for GRV Media.  His film tastes vary from blockbusters like Mission: Impossible and John Wick to international directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Hirokazu Kore-eda, and has attended both the London and Berlin film festivals.