The Kidnapping Mystery at the Heart of Ben Affleck’s ‘Animals’ on Netflix

The kidnapping in ‘Animals’ looks straightforward at first. A stranger calls a Los Angeles mayoral candidate and his wife, says he has taken their son, and demands $7 million before he will bring the boy back. The couple are willing to do nearly anything to get their child home.

The Netflix thriller rearranges that setup about halfway through. The story starts as a kidnapping plot and then turns into a cynical look at what happens when political ambition, money and marriage cannot be separated. That shift makes the question of who was taken, and who took them, central to how the film plays out.

Who Was Kidnapped in ‘Animals’ and Why It Matters

Mark Kimball, played by Affleck, is a wealthy lawyer and mayoral hopeful who lives with his wife Abigail, played by Kerry Washington, and their young son Denny. After the ransom call, the couple turn to a shadowy woman named Dayle, played by Gillian Anderson, who takes the deed to their home as a down payment on her fee.

Then Denny walks back into the house. He had not been kidnapped at all, and Mark first assumes the caller was bluffing before discovering the truth. The abductor had taken Hector, the son of Ramon, an undocumented worker in a relationship with the Kimballs’ housekeeper Cecilia.

According to Yahoo, Hector was taken by mistake because he was wearing a Halloween costume that matched Denny’s. Actor Luis Gerardo Méndez told Netflix Tudum that Ramon has no money, influence or power, and cannot contact the police because of his status. That reality sets up the film’s central imbalance between a powerful family and a father with nowhere to turn.

The Kidnappers and What Happens at the Los Angeles River

Once it is clear the wrong child was taken, Dayle gives Mark three choices. He can call the police, pay the ransom, or arrange a hit on the kidnappers so the couple keeps their money. Mark chooses the third option.

The caller sends Mark to an abandoned stretch of land by the Los Angeles River and makes him slide down a steep slope with the cash. A man in an enormous rabbit mask then appears with Hector, and an accomplice in an identical mask comes to collect the money. Dayle’s henchman Rand shoots both men from the shadows.

A third kidnapper, hidden nearby, then shoots Dayle and the man who works for her, before being killed by an unseen shooter who turns out to be Ramon. Anderson ties Dayle’s fate to her hubris and her belief that she is always right, since she had assumed the kidnappers were only two amateurs.

The film never explains who the kidnappers are or tells their full story, which Washington says was the point because the film is more about the bad guy that lives in all of us than about an enemy.

How the ‘Animals’ Ending Reshapes Mark Kimball

After the shooting, Mark takes Dayle’s phone, which holds recordings of everything that happened, and disposes of her body along with the dead abductors. He then tells the public that Ramon went looking for his son and that Mark was the one who shot the abductor.

Mark pleads guilty to the negligent discharge of a firearm and misdemeanor possession of a rifle without a serial number. He receives a year of probation and community service, while Ramon returns to Mexico with Cecilia, Hector and the cash taken from Dayle.

Mark goes on to win the mayoral race on a surge of Latino support, and in an interview he plays down the idea of a run for president. The ending is bleak because Mark technically gets what he wanted while losing almost everything that matters.

Ben Affleck’s Netflix Thriller and Its Moral Questions

Affleck directs, writes and stars in the film, which arrived in select theaters and on Netflix on October 9. He told Tudum the story asks whether people have a real moral compass or simply act in their own interests and build a story around that.

Washington describes the film as a psychological thriller with deeper questions about who matters, what a human life is worth, and whether that value is shaped by race, citizenship or shared DNA. Reactions to the film on X have been mixed, with some viewers criticizing missed potential and others offering praise.

Mark and Abigail also emerge as a united front, with Abigail standing beside him as he gives his false account to the public. If Ramon is the real hero of ‘Animals’ while Mark collects the credit and the mayor’s office, did the film convince you that Mark earned his victory, or should Ramon’s version of that night have reached the public?