Heart of the Beast

James Belmont (Brad Pitt) is recently retired from the US army’s special forces after thirty years’ service. With him is his loyal combat trained German shepherd Odin (Uber). Both have seen combat and carry the scars. Odin has a prosthetic leg which he seems to have got very used to.

Taking a seaplane out to the Alaskan wilderness James sets down in a beautiful area on the edge of a lake surrounded by forest and mountain. The tranquillity is broken for a while when Watkins (J.K. Simmons) arrives on a canoe. This turns into a campfire talk where we learn a little more about James and Odin. By the morning Watkins has left.

With the weather closing in James decides to leave. But once up in the air he suffers a heart attack and crashes. Surviving and using his training and what tools he has he plots a way back to a road. It starts out rough then gets rougher as James and Odin deal with what nature has to throw at them.

Directed by David Ayer from a first-time feature script by Cameron Alexander, Heart of the Beast ostensibly doesn’t have that much to differentiate it from other lost in the wilderness adventure stories. And in the background are the classic American wilderness stories of Jack London. When James sees wolves tear apart some animals forcing them to change their route, the gut reaction is that’s not the last of them.

Similarly, there are other beastly confrontations and then dealing with rivers, crevasses and the weather. What sets this apart are the psychological aspects and how James’s past experiences affect him with flashbacks to combat situations. Yet his training and knack for improvisation get him through.

There is also the relationship between James and Odin. And it’s not about developing over the course of the film, as it’s clear before the crash that there is already a great love between the two. It’s about demonstrating their devotion to each other endangering their own lives with barely a second thought. It’s a very believable bond between the two. Pitt is excellent as a combat hardened veteran looking for a quiet life with his dog.

Technically the photography is stunning; beautifully capturing the rugged and dangerous Alaskan landscape. The action sequences are superbly directed; some savage others carefully building tension notably their confrontation with a very large bear. Yet Ayer has the dexterity to show the empathy between James and Odin.

Heart of the Beast is UK cinemas now.