What’s It About

After surviving a plane crash, a former special forces soldier finds himself trapped in the unforgiving Alaskan wilderness with his combat dog. Together, they battle the elements and other animals in a harsh landscape that would likely kill any other man or dog.

MOVIESinMO REVIEW

Man, this year has been filled with terrible films. I have never hated a film more than I hated “Heart of the Beast.” About twenty minutes into it, I was watching my phone like I was wishing my parents would call me. I think the purpose of the film is to tell us about dogs being man’s best friend. I mean, seriously? Who doesn’t know that? A negative thing about the film is that it’s terribly boring since the message of the film is very sweet, but the story sucks big time. Better save your cash and your time. In this story, there’s a retired Green Beret called James Belmont living in Alaska with his dog, a German shepherd named Odin. Odin is not just any dog, he has been with James during his days in the war, so he has his own scars too, in which he has a number of titanium teeth, besides being handicapped in one leg. James has his own emotional scars, and both James and Odin go through similar experiences in terms of getting through nightmares. The story spins in ways to show how both can help each other. James flies the two of them out in his small plane for some camping and fishing. A storm rolls in, and while they’re in the air, James has a heart attack. The plane slams into a lake. Man and dog crawl out alive, but now they’re hurt, alone, and about 58 miles from the nearest road. From there, it’s one long walk of pain. Director David Ayer has been here before, sort of. He made “Fury” with Pitt back in 2014, plus “End of Watch” and “Suicide Squad.” His movies usually treat violence like it’s both exciting and soul-crushing at the same time. You can feel that here, mostly through the war flashbacks. Ayer keeps cutting back to James’ tours in the Middle East, all washed out in a yellowish, old-photo color. The first time, it works. By the fifth time, it feels like the movie is repeating itself because it ran out of new things to say. We never actually learn much about what happened over there, only that it was bad and it broke something inside them both. The best part of the whole film shows up early and leaves too soon. J.K. Simmons plays Watkins, a mysterious stranger paddling down the river who stops to share a beer and some talk with James. Simmons is grizzled, funny, and real, and his scene is the only time James truly connects with another human being. Through their talk, we finally get a peek at who James used to be. Then Simmons floats off, and the movie gets boring fast. Following the crash, the story quickly becomes a catalog of unfortunate happenings. James is rained on, attacked by animals, and hit on the head more times than could be counted. He even breaks his arm and sets it himself. In the extreme cold and extreme stupidity, he brings things out of a frozen lake, slips on some logs, and confronts a grizzly bear and a wolf pack. He keeps getting knocked down, but somehow manages to get up right on time for the next disaster. To be honest, though, he is very resourceful. He manages to make fire from cotton balls and Neosporin like a real off-grid MacGyver, and he packs more knives than he needs. So, if there’s one good thing about this movie, it’s that it teaches you to carry a good first-aid kit the next time you go camping. Tribune News Service critic Katie Walsh basically summed it up when she compared this flick to “Homeward Bound,” just made for grown folks. That’s on point. Take that old family movie, add some Jack London survival vibes, then pour in blood, gore, and cheesy war flashbacks. That’s “Heart of the Beast.” It also reminded me of “Dog,” the Channing Tatum movie about a soldier and his military dog, except without that movie’s sense of humor. And this is weirdly the second plane-and-pup survival story in a matter of weeks, since Ridley Scott’s “The Dog Stars” put Jacob Elordi in a small plane with his dog at the end of the summer. Hollywood is running low on fresh ideas, as usual. Now, let’s discuss the genuine star of the film, who definitely isn’t Brad Pitt. Odin manages to steal the spotlight in every scene. The character is embodied mostly by a German shepherd, Uber, with the help of his pups Ryker, Zika, and Hondo. This animal is truly capable of creating different sounds, movements, and gestures that show that he is intelligent, loyal, and has been through some emotional trauma. In fact, Odin has more depth to his character than any human actor. The movie gives Odin various fears and emotions, while the people are mostly limited to simple dialogue. For instance, when James spends the whole night trying to revive his friend after the accident, I believed it completely because of the dog. That makes it even more frustrating when the movie swaps the real animals for computer ones. The bear and the wolves are straight-up fake looking, and one of those attack scenes is shot so messy that I couldn’t even tell who was biting who. Meanwhile, the scenery is gorgeous. New Zealand stands in for Alaska, and the snowy mountains and deep forests look like a postcard. Too bad the story doesn’t match the view. Which brings me to my biggest question. Brad Pitt can make pretty much any movie he wants. He’s got the clout, he’s got the track record, and he even produced this one. So why pick a dog survival flick this thin? Pitt does what he can with the material, and his quiet moments with Odin are tender. But he’s at his best when he gets to show charm and wit, and there’s none of that here. Ayer pushes the pain so hard and so long that the movie feels like a funeral march through the Alaskan mud. There’s no humor and no breathing room to break up the misery. The film “Heart of the Beast” manages to reach a couple of peak moments, but overall, it has more downfalls or lows. The plot is a predictable one, clearly observable right from the very first scene and throughout the rest of the movie. However, I won’t argue the fact that Odin was the real star here. It’s a pity he found himself in the wrong movie.

OUR RATING – A NO BITE 3