Heart of the Beast Review: Elevates Itself to Pretty Damn Good
· BCPosted in: Kaitlyn Booth, Movies, Review | Tagged: Heart Of The Beast
Heart of the Beast Review: Elevates Itself to Pretty Damn Good
Heart of the Beast isn't anything new or exciting, but it isn't trying to be, and thanks to excellent work both in front of and behind the camera, the film elevates itself to pretty damn good.
Published Tue, 22 Sep 2026 08:03:09 -0500
by Kaitlyn Booth
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Article Summary
- David Ayer turns a familiar survival story into a tense, well-executed drama.
- Brad Pitt brings grit and vulnerability, while the bond between James and Odin gives Heart of the Beast its edge.
- Shot on location in the Alaskan wilderness, Heart of the Beast gains authenticity that green screen cannot match.
- Predictable story beats and a heavy-handed ending hold it back, but Heart of the Beast still lands as pretty damn good.
Heart of the Beast doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it executes familiar tropes and story points very well, so the target audience is likely to have a very good time with it.
Director: David Ayer
Summary: After a harrowing plane crash, a Special Forces officer and his combat dog find themselves stranded deep in the Alaskan wilderness. Together, they are forced into a brutal fight for survival against the elements.
There is nothing wrong with a movie showing up and not remaking the wheel. The saying "don't fix what isn't broken" exists for a reason, even though much innovation is born of breaking things that are completely functional and remaking them into something new. In movies, there's nothing wrong with showing up with the same plot and story points we've seen a million times; people love to see the bare bones of their favorite movie over and over again, but it does mean the creative team needs to step it up. You cannot half-ass when you're treading familiar ground. The execution of everything needs to be nothing short of great, or even people who teed up to love your film are going to be bored out of their skulls.
It's become pretty apparent that director David Ayer thrives in taking concepts we have seen a million times over [World War II films with Fury, an over-the-top action film starring Jason Statham with The Beekeeper) and executing them well. Heart of the Beast is exactly the film you think it is from a glance at the trailer, but Ayer and his team execute everything so well that its derivativeness doesn't matter much.
Ayer did this by making sure the film was shot on location, because you can't fake the kind of wilderness survival they are going for. The scenery and environment are the third character in Heart of the Beast after James (Brad Pitt) and his dog, Odin. It makes everything feel more real in every sense of the word, except for one aspect that looks so fake it's jarring when it shows up. There are confrontations with animals in this film, and let's just say one benefits greatly from the cover of darkness compared to the other.
Pitt, for all of his many flaws, is very good as a retired Army Special Forces veteran. The film and Pitt make sure we are very aware of just how human James is throughout. This isn't a super soldier making his way across the terrain. This is an older man, and despite being in good shape, he's not a perfect soldier anymore. He gets tired, he has a hard time with things, the terrain is hard on him, and we can see that in Pitt's performance. Heart of the Beast works because the entire time, despite James and Odin being in danger, it's pretty clear that James is the one who might not make it, not Odin. So often, the dogs in these films are presented as the ones that need to be protected or saved to get home, but not this time. James is the weak link of the two, and the film makes the very wise decision of never letting us forget it.
Odin and the dog actors that portray him are the goodest boys, but we all knew that. Who would have anything bad to say about the dog in the dog movie?
In terms of flaws, you can pretty much map out this story point by point once you see the direction that it is heading. For some people, that isn't going to matter, but for others, it might make Heart of the Beast a bit of a slog to get through. It doesn't overstay its welcome; the film runs 101 minutes, but one creative decision at the end is a bit heavy-handed, even for a movie like this. We spent most of this movie showing the bond between man and dog, but the film decides that it has to spend its final minutes telling us, like we didn't grasp it. It's not a decision that breaks the film by any stretch, but it does undermine it.
Heart of the Beast isn't anything new or exciting, but it isn't trying to be, and thanks to excellent work both in front of and behind the camera, the film elevates itself to pretty damn good. The most notable thing about it isn't anything that happens during the film itself, but the work the crew did during filming. In a world where people are screaming for more films to be shot on location rather than in studios and on green screens, Heart of the Beast should be commended for dragging the entire team out into the wilderness and getting this done the right way. If the film is remembered for anything, it should be remembered for that level of dedication in an industry all too eager to cut corners.
Heart of the Beast
Review by Kaitlyn Booth
6.5/10
Heart of the Beast doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it executes familiar tropes and story points very well, so the target audience is likely to have a very good time with it.
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