Movie Review: ‘Heart Of The Beast’

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Review by James Lindorf

David Ayer has built his career on duos and teams under pressure. “Training Day,” “End of Watch,” “Fury.” He understands the specific bond that forms between people who depend on each other to survive, and “Heart of the Beast” applies that understanding to a different kind of partnership entirely. Paramount Pictures brings the film to theaters everywhere on September 25th.

James Belmont (Brad Pitt) is a former special forces soldier who flies a small plane into the Alaskan wilderness with his combat dog Odin. When a heart attack causes the plane to go down, the two find themselves fifty miles from the nearest road in some of the most unforgiving terrain in the world. What follows is a survival story built around a relationship rather than a plot. Two battle-scarred veterans take on the elements, and the only way either of them gets out is together.

Given his talent, it is no surprise Pitt is very good throughout the film. Clichés say acting is about reacting, but when your co-star can’t speak, the physical demands of the role become as important as anything he says. Pitt carries the film through the body language and determination of a man who has survived things most people cannot imagine. A scene where James must set his own broken arm after a trip through river rapids is both impressive and genuinely uncomfortable, exactly the kind of physical commitment the film requires.

With only J.K. Simmons as a brief fellow camper and Anna Lambe as the bookend character waiting at the end of their journey, there is no one for James to have a real conversation with. Simmons serves a functional purpose, giving James someone to tell his backstory to rather than shouting it into the night sky for us, but the character feels underused. James’ behavior, clothes, and gear could have hinted at his history without requiring so much exposition. Still, Simmons’ moments of levity in an otherwise serious movie are welcome.

Even though James is the one in a health crisis, Odin is the film’s emotional center, driven largely by James’ love for the dog. Played primarily by a dog named Uber, with three of Uber’s own children sharing the role across the production, the performance is seamless enough that most audiences will be surprised to learn four dogs were involved. Occasionally, Uber seems to forget he is working and is simply enjoying an epic walk, his energy briefly brighter than the character’s situation warrants.

The prosthetic leg that Odin requires is a genuine makeup achievement that goes far beyond the powder-on-fur tricks of older animal films. Dogs dreaming is not a revelation to anyone, but capturing the PTSD nightmares Odin experiences is a marvel of directing, editing, training, and dog acting. The flashbacks to their time in combat are handled with a seriousness most films wouldn’t extend to an animal character. Not many people consider that dogs come home from war carrying the same invisible wounds as the soldiers beside them, and Ayer and screenwriter Cameron Alexander make sure you are thinking about that by the time the credits roll.

Ayer is known for his appreciation for and frequent use of the R-rating. “Heart of the Beast” is one of his rare PG-13 projects, but the lighter rating does not hold the film back. You do not miss the violence or language typically found in his work. The story is still allowed to be painful, frightening, and occasionally brutal without needing to become an R-rated action movie.

While the film is highly successful in most respects, the CGI in some wildlife encounters is not fully convincing. The animals are on screen but don’t quite inhabit the same space as Pitt and Uber. You could also argue that James endures far too many medical crises for one man to survive. Cuts, scrapes, broken bones, near drownings, and an unknown number of heart attacks while choking down a year’s supply of aspirin. But these are minor complaints against a confidently made film that knows exactly what it is trying to do, and that is to pull at your heartstrings.

“Heart of the Beast” will remind certain viewers of books or movies they loved growing up. “Hatchet” and “Call of the Wild” belong to media history in ways this film probably will not once the next entry in the survival genre arrives. What it will leave behind is a lesson about military dogs and the people who love them.

Nervous Ayer fans can relax. This is no “Fury” or “Training Day.” However, it is proof that the director can still make a meaningful film about people who depend on each other when everything else has gone wrong. This time, one of them happens to have four legs. “Heart of the Beast” earns a 4 out of 5.

Rating: PG-13 (Some Language|Bloody Images|Peril|Injury Images|Violence)
Genre: Adventure, Action, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): September 25th, 2026, Wide
Runtime: 1h 41m
Director: David Ayer
Producer: Olivia Hamilton, Marty Bowen, David Ayer, Brad Pitt
Screenwriter: Cameron Alexander
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Wild Chickens Productions, Crave Films, Plan B Entertainment, Temple Hill Entertainment