Untitled Film Project

SPOILER-FREE PLOT SUMMARY
Along with his retired Military Working Dog Odin (played by Uber), retired Army Special Forces veteran James Belmont (Brad Pitt) is living the quiet life in Alaska, far away from the hustle and bustle of a big city in the lower 48 states. Odin suffers from PTSD — and has suffered multiple physical injuries as well — from his years in combat. Being in Alaska, the duo often use a prop plane to fly in and out of the remote locations they enjoy hiking, hunting and visiting. After spending a couple days setting up camp and fly fishing, a storm is coming in and the two make preparations to get out before they get stranded. Despite flying into the storm, they make it through safely and are well on their way home when James suffers a heart attack at the controls and the plane crashes into a remote lake, 58 miles from the nearest road. With very few provisions, James and Odin must trek through the Alaskan wilderness on foot, battle the elements, stave off animal attack and fight for their survival.

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
Can a dog win Best Supporting Actor? Uber deserves some sort of recognition from one of the many award shows. He’s the gravity of the film, he’s the reason the audience is invested and, of course, he’s mission critical to the lead character’s journey (literally and figuratively).

Speaking of the lead character, Pitt is great, per usual. Despite the fact that he’s one of the most famous people on the planet, he still magically transforms into whatever role he’s playing. Never mind the fact you’ve seen him play a white collar thief, a baseball GM, a Nazi hunter, the outlaw Jesse James and about 218 other roles during his career. He’s so good that we still buy every second of him as a retired Army Special Forces soldier.

Not to be outdone is director David Ayer. Any lesser filmmaker would fumble the film’s momentum with the flashbacks or lose the intensity with ill-timed shots. Ayer’s a veteran of the trade who knows how to plant seeds along the way in order to maximize the audience’s experience. James shaking his left arm while loading the plane, light vulture sounds in the distance, the placement of the brace and the choice of a camera angle behind our protagonists to show sunlight on the horizon. All nice little touches of foreshadowing and symbolism peppered throughout the film that separates Ayer from others.

There are a handful of minor issues, however. There’s some rough CGI (falling into the rapids and the bear scene come to mind), the inclusion of JK Simmons’ character seemed to be a waste of time and then there’s multiple instances of excess. Does James really need to hit his head three times while in the rapids? The arm injury is gruesome enough and then the first head-on-rock gives the audience the sense of peril. But the two additional hits to the head do nothing to increase the urgency, do nothing to advance the story and do nothing but prompt the viewer to throw their hands up and say “Really?”

All that said, this is the rare example of a dog movie where the human serves the dog instead of the other way around. In addition, there are plenty of unexpected moments and that’s always welcome. HEART OF THE BEAST is required viewing for dog lovers and military veterans. Your soul will be full when you exit the theater.

JKG SCORE: 7.5 out of 10

SEMI-SPOILER IMPORTANT NOTE
It spoils the drama but there’s a critically important note that I feel I must divulge. (Plus there’s merch that address it so I feel like it’s allowed in an otherwise spoiler-free review).

I have a personal rule to never see a movie where I can logically conclude that the dog dies. While most will cite JOHN WICK (2014) as the go-to example, it doesn’t count in my opinion. A prospective viewer could see the name of that movie and never know there’s a dog involved, let alone one who serves the plot so blatently. MARLEY & ME (2008), A DOG’S PURPOSE (2017) and MY DOG SKIP (2000) are all great examples of films where the dog is so important that they’re in the title and, therefore thanks to the genre, the audience can reasonably assume the dog will meet its end.

They’re also all great examples of movies I’ve never seen because, well… we talked about that.

So here’s the semi-spoiler: Odin lives.

I mention this because I 100% do not see HEART OF THE BEAST without Paramount holding the global premiere in our backyard (Nashville). If this was a normal screener, at a normal theater, with no special guests in attendance, there’s zero chance I see it. So, as you can imagine, I’m thrilled to be able to report this kind of spoiler.