Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: David Ayer
Starring: Brad Pitt, JK Simmons
I can't be the only one who regularly gets directors Joe Carnahan and David Ayer mixed up, can I? They're both associated with the sort of tough action movies that have largely otherwise fallen out of fashion in Hollywood. Carnahan's best movie is The Grey, a survival thriller in which characters attempt to survive against the elements and a hungry pack of wolves following a plane crash in the Alaskan wilderness. Just to add to the confusion, Ayer's Heart of the Beast is also a survival thriller in which characters attempt to survive against the elements and a hungry pack of wolves following a plane crash in the Alaskan wilderness. It might be Ayer's best movie too.
I say "characters," but it's actually one man and his dog in this case. Brad Pitt plays James, a recently retired Special Forces soldier who has adopted his combat dog Odin. Both man and dog are scarred by PTSD, prone to waking in the middle of the night after nightmares related to their combat experiences. Odin's experience of war has left him with a mouth full of titanium and an artificial leg. James has been left with numerous physical and psychological scars. He seems untrusting of other people, preferring the company of his dog.
After a few idyllic days hanging out with Odin in remote Alaska, James suffers a heart attack while flying his Cessna out of the region. The plane crashes, leaving himself and Odin banged up but still alive. The nearest road is 58 miles away. It will take all of James and Odin's collective survival skills to make it there. In their way are bears, physical obstacles, unfavourable weather, and a pack of wolves stalking them as they wait for the right moment to pounce.
The question on everyone's lips will no doubt be "does the dog die?", but Ayer and Cameron Alexander make the unconventional decision to provide an answer to this anxious query by opening their film with a flash forward that immediately lets us know Odin's fate. The question then becomes "does Brad Pitt die?". But let's be honest, if you put a man and a dog together in a survival thriller, 99% of the audience will be fine with the former perishing so long as the latter makes it out alive.
I have to admit that knowing Odin's faith didn't prevent me from tensing up each time the doggo was placed in danger, which is roughly every 10 minutes here. I actually came to view it as a clever move on Ayer and Alexander's part to clear up Odin's outcome, as it makes us focus more intently on Pitt's James in a way we may not have if we were solely invested in the plight of his canine companion.
This might be Pitt's best performance in quite some time, and he has a more believable chemistry with his three-legged co-star than with many of his bipedal colleagues. The two "actors" really sell the idea that we're watching two animals who have been through hell but have found peace in each other's company. Early on their camping trip is interrupted by an old duffer (JK Simmons) who insists on spending the night at their camp, and we see how uncomfortable both man and dog are around humans.
With New Zealand standing in for Alaska, Heart of the Beast has a beautiful backdrop while never losing sight of the fact that this is a landscape that isn't conducive to human survival. Nowhere is this more explicit than a scene in which James and Odin must cross a raging river via a precariously positioned fallen tree. The setting is stunning, but incredibly treacherous. It is heartening to know that places like this still exist on our planet, and that they have built their own defences to keep us from spoiling them.
Heart of the Beast is an old-fashioned adventure romp, one with an endearing central dynamic that ensures there won't be a dry eye in the house when the credits roll. Like The Grey, it's a gripping survival thriller but also a fatalistic one. There is a growing sense throughout that there can only be one eventual outcome. And as with The Grey, it makes us feel like if we have to perish somewhere, a place as awe-inspiring as the wilds of Alaska is about as good as it gets.
Heart of the Beast is in UK/ROI cinemas from September 23rd.
