Aficionados of the Dog Movie will tell you that there are several distinct strains therein. You’ve got your broad comedies, usually involving a large and particularly slobbery big buddy who proceeds to knock over everything in sight, eat anything available, and bring a grumpy patriarch’s domestic priorities into sharp relief (think Beethoven). Then there’s the more occupational version, where the canine star inhabits or is adjacent to a profession that one would not normally associate with dogs (like President, or Santa Claus, or a basketball player). As a bonus, these movies also frequently deploy visual effects to make it look like the animals’ mouths are moving when they “speak.” The third most prominent strain is the survival adventure, wherein the dog(s) are either separated from their caregivers or must aid them in rescue from a dire circumstance (Homeward Bound or Far From Home being two classic 1990s examples). These films all, as you see in the examples above, have their share of recognizable tropes and repeated story beats. That’s almost part of the charm.
David Ayer’s latest film, Heart of the Beast, falls squarely into that last category. We meet James (Brad Pitt) and his stalwart canine companion Odin (Uber). They’re ex-special forces, retired. Both have their share of scars, physical and mental — Odin’s, in particular, stand out: he has a set of titanium teeth and a prosthetic leg — and both of them are prone to waking up in fright after a PTSD-induced nightmare. But they’re a fully-bonded unit, focusing all their energies on each other as they fly from one remote Alaskan location to the next in James’ little one-engine sea-plane, far away from almost anyone else. Unfortunately, that idyllic existence is shattered when James suffers a freak heart attack during one of their flights, crashing the plane and stranding him and Odin in the wilderness, at least a week’s trek from the nearest rescue.
The vast majority of Heart of the Beast is taken up with that journey, as James and Odin face giant CGI bears, a lack of resources (despite James’ clear survival expertise), raging rivers, precarious cliffs, a pack of hungry wolves (also digital), and so forth. These sequences are rendered largely dialogue-free, and Ayer illustrates the communication and relationship between his two protagonists in a deceptively effortless way. Pitt, of course, can deliver this sort of grizzled stoicism in his sleep, and while he’s perfectly good here, Uber’s canine performance is nothing short of spectacular. As Odin, Uber is not only gorgeous on screen, but his eyes, face, and body language are incredibly expressive throughout. There’s no doubt that it must have been a pain in the ass to get some of these shots, requiring who knows how many takes, but the effort pays off in spades, as Uber does a lot of the heavy lifting in selling the sanctity of this central relationship.
Taken as a straight-up man’s man adventure movie, Heart of the Beast isn’t wanting for a lot, and its stripped-down nature is admirable in conceit and aces in execution. Where Ayer’s film runs into trouble, however, is in a pretty standardized depiction of James and Odin’s wartime exploits that mostly sticks to rote iconography and dramatic development. In fairness, it should be noted that Odin’s perspective is the primary one in this regard; he has no idea why he was in combat or indeed who he was fighting, and so any embellishments might be argued to be extraneous. That said, the relationship between him and his human companion is still more than enough to sustain the film’s hefty emotional stakes, including in its bittersweet finale.
Now, full disclosure: dog parenthood has been one of the greatest undertakings of this writer’s life, a bond that means more than quite literally anything else. One does not need to have that experience to find the value in Heart of the Beast, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt — Ayer’s film is rooted in the emotional and psychological nuances of that human-dog relationship. That said, no wheels are being reinvented here, and rather Heart of the Beast remains largely content to do exactly what it says on the tin. To that end, it’s one of the best examples of its subgenere.
DIRECTOR: David Ayer; CAST: Brad Pitt, J.K. Simmons, Anna Lambe, Uber; DISTRIBUTOR: Paramount Pictures; IN THEATERS: September 25; RUNTIME: 1 hr. 41 min.
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