By Amber De Waal, Second Year, English
The concept of man and his best friend stuck in a perilous situation with complete dependency on one and other for survival is hardly a new one. As I walked to the cinema to watch Heart of the Beast (2026), I dreaded a little what was to come, fearing a lack of originality but suspecting, with some certainty, that I would be moved to tears nonetheless. As it happens, I was right on both points.
We meet our protagonists in flight, suspended above the beautiful Alaskan landscape at sunset. James Belmont (Brad Pitt), a retired special forces soldier and his combat dog Odin (played by four very talented German Shepherds), are introduced to us on a camping trip in the wilderness, where we get to witness the tender bond between the two as they come to terms with their lives beyond the army, healing from both physical and mental injuries.
The two encounter Watkins (J. K. Simmons) a retired gold miner, who feels as if he’s walked out of a folktale with his bushy beard and his rickety rowing boat that he rows away on in the night. However, the introduction of this character is of little consequence and the little dialogue between him and Belmont is unremarkable. He departs with a sense of foreboding, warning the two of the rising storm.
Lo and behold, the next day, Odin and Belmont are forced to pack up quickly to escape the weather. Predictably, the two do not manage to escape, and find themselves stranded, injured and deep in the middle of nowhere, facing a fierce 58km hike to civilisation with the might of the elements and nature acting as their antagonist. What follows is a touching tale of the unconditional love that exist between them as their endurance is tested to its limits.
The plot itself lacks originality and is a little too predictable for my liking. The challenges they face are very 'Hollywood' in style. From wolf fights and stare-downs with bears to perilous log crossings with rapids raging beneath them, each trial seemed typical and lacking in creativity. This was cheapened further by the use of some very questionable CGI, which took you out of the otherwise very beautiful and authentic natural surroundings.
In Heart of the Beast, nature (bar all the CGI wildlife) is an impressive and fearsome character in its own right. The breathtaking panoramic shots take centre stage in the visual storytelling, conveying the pair’s remoteness and the difficulties that lurk ahead of them. The natural world is simultaneously the source of both great beauty and merciless threat, pushing them to the edge of their endurance and the audience to the edge of their seats.
Although the film is certainly one about survival, it is also fundamentally one about friendship. The bond created between these two damaged souls and the lengths that they will go to for one other was the film's redeeming factor. Whilst the plot was driven by unrelenting challenges, it was the gentle looks and quiet moments shared between man and his best friend which added the real stakes to the intense moments.
This brings me to the acting, more specifically the phenomenal acting of the German Shepherd who played Odin. Believe me when I say this dog had a more expressive face than many a Hollywood actor. It was in his looks of love, loyalty and fear that much of the emotion in this film was created. Brad Pitt was … well, reliably Brad Pitt in his acting. He is of course well suited to the role of the soldier, convincing you of his impressive survival skills and courageously bearing through various injuries and agonies. However, and I say this to praise the dog rather than putting Pitt down, Odin really did steal the show.
Leo Sefton
That being said, I don’t think it’s exactly a huge challenge to make a dog lovable. There is something timelessly moving in the nature of dogs, which bubbles down to their unconditional love and loyalty, possessing all the purity that we as humans lack. With this character to build upon, it would have been hard to not make it a tearjerker and director David Ayer certainly pulled out every trick in the book to ensure this happened. Although the way they did this felt unoriginal, the results were still heart-wrenching and I was not alone in looking red-eyed and blotchy when the lights went up at the end of the film.
If any of the readers saw Brad Pitt’s intriguing De’Longhi coffee advert, where a number of dogs gather round him and bark slightly demeaning instructions about how to make coffee, then they will be disappointed by Heart of the Beast’s comparative lack of originality. However, if you are a lover of dogs, adventure and nature, and are simply looking to be moved to smiles, excitement and tears, then this film is for you.
Featured image: IMDb / Heart of the Beast
Were you moved to tears by Heart of the Beast?
