Heart of the Beast Review

Heart of the Beast is a survival-thriller that sees Brad Pitt and David Ayer reteam for another military-themed film.

James Belmont (Pitt) is a retired Navy SEAL who travels to Alaska with his old combat dog, Odin. When James suffers a heart attack while flying his seaplane and crash-lands in the Alaskan wilderness, it forces man and beast to trek 58 miles in the unforgiving environment.

Fury was arguably the high point of David Ayer’s career. It was a gritty war film that followed an American tank crew during the dying days of the Second World War. Since that film, Ayer’s work has been critically panned. Reteaming with his Fury lead seemed like a wise move because he’s coming into this film off the back of F1. Combined with a screenplay that was on the 2017 Black List, Heart of the Beast had a lot of promise.

Heart of the Beast was as simple as a film could be. James and Odin have to travel from point A to point B and survive the terrain, the elements, and the wildlife, whilst also having flashbacks to their wartime experience. It was similar to another Alaska-set survival-thriller, The Grey.

The pair do face a lot of peril, with James getting battered and beaten and his body deteriorating throughout the film, much like The Man in The Road. Heart of the Beast was surprisingly gory for a film with a 12A rating as James patches up various injuries. Even though Heart of the Beast was an animal movie, it’s not meant for kids.

Heart of the Beast was made for an older male demography. As much as YouTube grifters make out that Hollywood has gone downhill because they have enforced ‘woke’ messaging, they have made plenty of films that appeal to conservative-leaning audiences. The 2010s were filled with military films that appealed to that audience, and Heart of the Beast would have fitted in with them. Even for people who aren’t obsessed with the military, Heart of the Beast had an easy appeal because many people like dogs.

James was the ideal manly-man for these people. He was a veteran who did physical outdoor pursuits. The irony is people who venerate veterans and outdoor activities the most support a man who insults the military and would destroy the natural world in a heartbeat.

Heart of the Beast did share some DNA with another military canine film, Dog. Both were about the bond between a veteran and a dog who has the scars of war, and highlighted the work of service animals in the military. The difference was Dog was a road comedy.

Heart of the Beast has been released in a year of dog-related movies, those being Supergirl, The End of Oak Street, and The Dog Stars. Heart of the Beast even opened in a similar way to The Dog Stars since they opened showing a man flying a plane with a dog through a beautiful mountain range and retrieving resources in an unforgiving environment.

Heart of the Beast will appeal to its target audience, and for everyone else, it was a perfectly serviceable if a little underwhelming.