by Although loosely based on a true story, Elizabeth Banks is the director of a crime comedy cocaine bear is a little less predictable than you might think. While the film certainly delivers on both halves of its title, the cocaine and the bear, it does so in a way that will delight and surprise audiences eager to escape what the Marvel Cinematic Universe spawns.
How does a bear even get cocaine? And what happens to the unfortunate, helpless people who cross his path? Digital Trends has the answers for you.
Warning: Spoilers below for the whole cocaine bear.
What is Cocaine Bear about?
While the film delivers on a bear becoming addicted to cocaine in the first few minutes, things aren’t as simple as you might think. The cocaine in question came from a plane that dropped it into the sky in 1985. The drugs belonged to a kingpin named Syd, who eventually sends Daveed, one of his enforcers, and his screwed-up son Eddie to Georgia to salvage.
At the same time, a cop named Bob and another cop named Reba begin their own search for the missing drugs, and a nurse named Sari loses her daughter Dee Dee in that very forest. There are also some foreign vacationers, a pair of park rangers named Liz and Peter, a couple of paramedics and a local bum named Stache thrown into the mix as an encore, making for a surprisingly large ensemble cast that the bear can begin to pick a ghastly one (or grizzly) kill after kill.
The deaths come very early in the film, and a number of characters are mutilated or dismembered before the film’s climax. One of the foreign vacationers is killed early in the film and both medics are also maimed. Peter, the park ranger, is also attacked, and Bob is eventually killed as well, but not by the bear. Instead, he is shot by Syd after getting into a standoff over the drugs.
How does Cocaine Bear end?
The film’s climax begins after Bob’s death, when Eddie and Daveed confront Syd, who threatens to kill Reba as well. Reba doesn’t show up in the woods until the third act, and that’s when you find out that she was actually working with Syd. Eddie, grieving the loss of his wife, decides to back out after he begins to understand that there are children in the woods who need his help.
Dee Dee was kidnapped by the bear and taken back to her den to be with her cubs and the cocaine. Syd ends up trying to retrieve the cocaine, unable to let go of it and being mutilated by the bear as a result. Daveed is almost killed in the ensuing brawl, but Sari is able to save his life, and they are able to save Dee Dee and leave the forest, leaving both the cocaine and the bear behind.
Eddie decides to be a better father since Syd has been taking care of his young son. Meanwhile, Sari and Dee Dee grow closer as mother and daughter.
There are two post-credits stingers. The first reveals that a dog nibbled on Daveed’s fingers, which Syd shot down earlier in the film. The second reveals that Stache found a duffel bag filled with cocaine and decided to keep it for himself. Many people survived the bear, but who knows when she might strike again?
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