Endangered Species (2021)

Endangered Species is the kind of lean, sun-baked survival thriller that makes the wilderness feel both breathtaking and brutally indifferent, turning a “dream vacation” into a pressure cooker of fear, grit, and hard choices. Director M.J. Bassett uses the Kenyan scenery not as postcard decoration but as a living presence—gorgeous, vast, and always capable of swallowing you whole—while threading in a pointed conservation undercurrent about what humans do to places they claim to admire. The action is tense and physical, the stakes feel immediate, and the movie keeps a steady forward momentum as danger comes from more than one direction. It is also unapologetically rough around the edges, with bloody violence and a pulpy, B-movie streak, so if you’re squeamish or want subtle character drama, it may not be your safari—but if you want a visceral, scenery-soaked fight for survival with a conscience, it delivers.

Endangered Species wants to be a gritty, back-to-basics survival thriller in the African wilderness, mixing animal danger with human greed and a “respect nature” message. The problem is the script leans hard on predictable beats and head-slapping decisions, so the tension often feels manufactured rather than earned, and the tone swings between nasty peril and near-silly contrivance. If you struggle to stay invested when characters behave implausibly just to keep the plot moving, this will test your patience, and the bloody violence isn’t subtle. Still, the Kenya setting and occasional bursts of creature-feature panic can work if you’re simply after a disposable, high-stress watch and don’t need smart writing or believable people.