Heart of the Beast review: Brad Pitt and canine pal's brutal adventure hits home
David Ayer's new movie is sentimental and surprisingly devoid of a grand purpose, but it is all heart and conviction.
James Belmont (Brad Pitt) and his canine German Shepherd pal Odin (Uber) are the film’s two protagonists.
Watching David Ayer’s new movie, Heart of the Beast, feels like stumbling upon an adventure novel in a faraway place. A kind of book that draws you in instantly with its simple, unembellished prose and where the meticulous detailing of its setting brings to mind the gravelly, warmth-filled voice of an older gent. The experience of flipping through its musty pages doesn’t necessarily test you emotionally, but it tugs at your heartstrings without fail, transcending into a memory worth holding on to. Imagine JK Simmons serving as the voice in the mind, not only for the obvious reason that he fits the aforementioned description, but also because he makes an appearance early on in the movie and endearingly manages to put things in perspective.
And given how compelled Simmons’s character Watkins, a former gold miner, feels by the bond between James Belmont (Brad Pitt) and his canine German Shepherd pal Odin (Uber) — the film’s two protagonists — there is little doubt as to why he’d want to recount their story to the rest of the world. On a still night in the Alaskan wilderness, Watkins borrows a cold Belgian beer from Belmont before learning that the man is a US Army Special Forces veteran and that Odin was his bravest combat dog and even though he parts ways with them the following morning, you can tell he has forged a spiritual connection with them.
The 58 miles
What we then get to see is the essence of James and Odin’s relationship as they embark on a most treacherous journey, both physically and emotionally. We don’t learn why the two are on this trip, or where they come from, but the mention of their shared post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) somehow suffices for information. James’ physicality — weathered, scarred yet highly functional — combined with his weary gaze doesn’t make you question why he’d fly a small propeller plane into nowhere and Odin’s own trustful eyes tell you that he shall follow his friend wherever he goes. Whether it means escaping that past or finding a distant future, James and Odin are in it together all the way.
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Quite so, they go hand in hand throughout, but certainly not where they initially set out to. The plane crashes sooner than later, the two get separated in the wild, the supplies start to run thin, and the nearest safe point ends up being 58 miles away, all to be covered on foot.
Heart of the Beast is about those 58 miles and both Ayer and screenwriter Cameron Alexander keep the design of their film as straightforward as possible, because they know the charm lies in the small moments. They know a survival story cannot be all that different from the countless ones that have come before — the orchestration of the journey could be different, James and Odin could respond to the challenge differently, but the desire remains the same, always and always: to find the way back home.
The two journeys
Ayer’s filmmaking doesn’t interfere with the journey either. His cinematographer, Mauro Fiore, has previously shot spectacles like Avatar (2009) and hand-to-hand combat actioners like The Equalizer (2014) and John Woo’s The Killer (2024) and his nimbleness proves a great asset here. The camera, appropriately, becomes the only other presence here in the wild; when the plane submerges in the water, it drowns along with it and when James defiantly swims his way back to the surface, it flanks him all along. Two sequences — the long one immediately after the crash and another involving the crossing of a rather precarious bridge — stand out as the film’s most memorable, largely because the craft of putting them together is made almost invisible to us.
Heart of the Beast also boasts some exquisite sound design (Aaron Glascock) and Dody Dorn’s editing elevates the intensity of the situations that James and Odin endure together. At the same time, some of the computer graphics work comes across as subpar, while a couple of other portions conspicuously give away the studio setup around them.
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Ayer’s choice to straddle both physical and metaphorical journeys yields some effective moments, but his film certainly could have challenged itself a lot more. Its use of an army veteran and a combat dog, for one, feels laced with emotional coaxing and the passing mention of their harrowing experiences in Iran and Afghanistan reflects a harsh one-sided view that somehow softens their home nation’s perception as a potential oppressor. But the film doesn’t stress too much on these aspects and the tender man-beast relationship retains its precedence during the 101-minute runtime.
Heart of the Beast is sentimental and surprisingly devoid of a grander purpose for such a major movie (which is, maybe, refreshing?), but it hits home with heart and conviction. And if you are a dog lover, it is sure to stay with you.
