‘Heart of the Beast’ Movie Review – Is It Worth Watching?

Heart of the Beast is a survival action-adventure starring Brad Pitt and directed by David Ayer, who previously collaborated on Fury. The story follows James Belmont, a retired special forces soldier who’s forced to live by his wits when his plane goes down in the unforgiving Alaskan wilderness. Taking a trip with his faithful sniffer dog, Odin, who was injured alongside him in combat, the fiercely loyal duo make their way across the frozen terrain in a bid to reach safety. Hampered by mounting health concerns and relying on sheer instinct against the odds, they face some of nature’s deadliest creatures and brutal forces in a treacherous trek that threatens to become their last mission.

David Ayer comes from a long line of sharp action films, standing as a seasoned veteran of his craft who aims to deliver a fully charged cinematic experience despite zooming down to the intimate canvas of a man and his dog. In its simplest terms, this is a watchable film that accurately depicts a retired soldier and his service dog making a grand trek across the wilderness after a catastrophic plane crash nearly ends it all. The awe-inspiring backdrops, the combat flashbacks, the genuine perils of trying to make it across a vast expanse on a near-solo mission, and the overarching audiovisual experience offer a spectacle that is handsomely mounted and full of great ingredients.

Yet, while this sparsely scripted survival action-adventure shares touches of Cast Away in the limits drawn by having such a hyperfocus on a lone survivor and his companion against the elements, it proves surprisingly flat and superficial. With or without a canine sidekick, Brad Pitt is a fine actor who proved he’s more than up to the task of carrying an Alaskan expedition of this scale in Seven Years in Tibet. However, while he remains gifted and easy on the eye, the sheer anonymity of the character makes it seem almost unnecessary for a star of Pitt’s calibre to take on the performance. His name carries obvious clout, and he fits the been-there-done-that feel required for the role, but the production leans far too heavily on his filmography and previous efforts to conjure an absent backstory. As it sits, the character remains quite two-dimensional, and as much as the script attempts to inject warmth and humour, it simply doesn’t draw us any closer to him.

Being the kind of film where involving a dog would lead you to expect a potent emotional pull, that tug isn’t quite there. Without sufficient character depth, things tend to operate at an arm’s length. As valiant and loyal as James and Odin are, there’s not that much texture beyond their shared trauma and battle scars. While understandably minimalistic in its scripting, there are a few choice moments where far more could have been done. Instead, the narrative remains lightweight and comes up short, neither mining the protagonist nor offering hints about his former life or current disposition. He remains a mystery, but one that doesn’t add up to much, leaving the story to play out as an episodic sequence of survival events rather than a series of meaningful interactions.

“What could possibly go wrong?”

While the visual aesthetic and majestic landscapes impress, some of the CGI is not quite as sharp, which undermines a few of the central action sequences and yields diminishing returns for a film relying so heavily on spectacle. What also becomes difficult to manage is the sheer pile-up of bad luck and variety of hostile encounters, which begins to feel distinctly contrived. Further complicating matters is that after suffering a major physical setback, the soldier turns into something of a Rasputin, improbably managing to soldier through an arduous journey despite severe injuries and numerous obstacles.

The ending is also a bit strange, subverting expectations while simultaneously falling into missed opportunities. Capping it off, the closing lines try to retroactively impart broader meaning and importance by speaking to the role of service dogs in the military. While the bond between the co-leads is dependable and believable, there’s not all that much substance beneath this tale of endurance. Tapping into more of the wanderlust spirit of Into the Wild, offering a few glimpses into the character’s life purpose, or even delving into a spiritual dimension when everything turns against the pair would have offered greater depth and soul.

As it stands, Heart of the Beast is serviceable and full of potential, but content to deliver what-you-see-is-what-you-get basics. There are far worse films out there, and while it aspires to the survival greats, it pales in comparison, chiming in closer to focused survival thriller vehicles like Apex. While Brad Pitt may have thought he could wring more out of the performance than the script allowed, the film rests too heavily on his persona and previous triumphs to do the heavy lifting. It’s not David Ayer’s finest hour, landing more as a competent professional endeavour than an inspired passion project.

The bottom line: Valiant