HEART OF THE BEAST Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: David Ayers
Stars: Brad Pitt, J K Simmonds, Anna Lambe.
A compelling survival story about a man and his faithful canine companion stranded in the harsh Alaskan wilderness, Heart Of The Beast will invite inevitable comparisons with films like The Revenant and Castaway.
Brad Pitt plays James Belmont, a former special forces soldier who has since retired from the army. He suffers from PTSD and troubling flashbacks to the horrors of the war. He is accompanied by Odin, his retired traumatised combat dog who is equipped with titanium teeth and a prosthetic leg, courtesy of injuries suffered during the war.
The pair head off into the wilds of Alaska for a camping trip where they can experience some much needed solitary peace and quiet. But James suffers a minor heart attack and crashes his light sea plane into a lake. Odin manages to rescue him and drag him ashore. The pair are then forced to make the long and arduous trek across a harsh terrain to reach a road some 60 miles away. Along the journey they face and overcome a number of obstacles, including a slippery log bridge, a pack of wolves, a storm, a deep oozy swamp, and at one stage James is even swept away by the rapids of a river, giving us a slightly icky Deliverance-like moment.
Heart Of The Beast is the first feature film script for Cameron Alexander (who has directed a number of music videos), and it focuses on the strong bond between James and Odin, but it also highlights the treacherous and unpredictable nature of the environment and the wilderness. Director David Ayers ratchets up the tension during the long and arduous journey.
Ayers previously directed Pitt in the WWII tank drama Fury, and here he puts him through his paces in a fairly physical role as the weathered and taciturn but resilient and resourceful hero. It is also a very introspective performance from Pitt who tries to flesh out the enigmatic Belmont beyond the bare bones on the page. A scene featuring Pitt fishing will remind savvy viewers of his earlier drama A River Runs Through It.
Compared to some of Ayers’ output (The Beekeeper, etc) Heart Of The Beast is a stripped back and sparse affair with little in the way of big action scenes (apart from a few gritty flashback sequences). This is essentially a two-handed drama with Pitt and Odin on screen for the duration of the film. There is not a lot of dialogue. Odin is one of those great cinematic dogs that engage our attention and our emotions. The four German Shepherds that play Odin are very expressive and sympathetic and there is a real bond between them and Pitt which gives the film its strong emotional core. They share a strong, unspoken and unbroken connection.
A typically gruff J K Simmons contributes a brief cameo as Watkins, a grizzled former goldminer that James and Odin encounter at their first overnight camp early in the film. And Anna Lambe (from tv series True Detective, etc) bookends the film.
The film was shot on location in New Zealand, which nicely doubles for the Alaskan wilderness, and cinematographer Mauro Fiore (Avatar, etc) captures some stunning vistas, giving the material a surface beauty. The score from Jared Michael Fry is also evocative.
★★★
