JONESING FOR FILMS

The “Dad Movie” has become a thing in recent years. They’re a type of movie that has existed for decades, but have been more clearly defined recently as especially having an appeal, broadly speaking, to the average dad or middle aged man. Usually, these movie are gritty and have competent men as the lead character, but aren’t hypermasculine. I think they also have the benefit of being fairly well-crafted movies, too. David Ayers is a director who I would say the majority of his filmography falls into the Dad Movie zone, and his latest film, Heart of the Beast is firmly in that class.

This survival thriller sees Ayers reteaming with Brad Pitt, the two having previously worked together on the WWII tank action drama Fury. This time around, Pitt portrays James Belmont, a former Green Beret enjoying his retirement exploring the remote Alaskan wilderness by plane. His only companion in life is Odin, his former combat dog. Odin is a highly trained dog and resilient dog, having lost part of a leg and some teeth in combat. When their plan crashes, the two of them have to work together to survive and escape from the middle of the Alaskan wilderness and make a long trek back to civilization.

The biggest strength of the film is the bond between man and dog. Both Pitt and the dog, whose real-life name is Uber have a believably strong bond. In fact, Odin could be considered the main character or at the very least the co-lead with Pitt. With the exception of a brief supporting role by J.K. Simmons, a woman who bookends the movie, and a few characters in flashbacks, this is mostly a two-hander with Pitt and the German Shepherd.

Odin has a distinct personality, too. While James is sitting at a campfire beside a lake, Odie’s insistence on playing eventually wins out and they are next seen in an open field executing attack commands with James wearing a protective sleeve on his arm to prevent harm from Odie’s bites. The bond of their relationship is further solidified for the audience when Odie awakens in the middle of the night from PTSD thinking they are being attacked and James has to calm him down and sooth him. Odin and James both carry the physical and emotional scars of combat.

Both man and animal are resilient. A health episode for James results in their plane crash. Without getting into the how of it, James and Odin reach land from the crash differently, and I found Odin’s to be especially discomforting and harrowing. Even knowing from the opening scene that Odin is ultimately going to survive everything, it still caught me off guard in the moment.

There are several obstacles that end up standing in their way on the journey back to civilization, obstacles both geographical and predatory in nature. These create so captivating moments and set pieces, as it were, to hang the action on. Most of the early going goes better than expected, before their luck takes a turn and things become more difficult. The turning point seems to be at a moment when James thinks they deserve to reward themselves and after that it is almost like they are being punished by the gods.

While there is a scene involving a pack of wolves as well as another scene with a bear, the scene that stood out to me was the treacherous crossing over rapids on two crisscross fallen trees. It shows how perilous and dangerous falling in rapids can be, speed and an uneven riverbed beneath the surface is a bad combination.

I’ve never owned a dog, or even a pet in general, and I will admit that I used to scoff at people who developed such a close bond with their dogs and deeply mourned them when they passed away. This movie gave me a better understanding of why these bonds between man and man’s best friend can be so tight, why a dog is referred to as “man’s best friend” in the first place, and how dogs can be special companions.

Sometimes I complain that genre fans are discerning enough or demanding enough and will eat up and slop the movie studios feed them. Part of the reason why the studios gets away with putting out products that appeal to the lowest common denominator so often is because they can. It’s easy to see a mediocre, paint-by-numbers version of this movie, with a C-List actor in Pitt’s place. Heck, there are dog-centric movies attached to stars every other year, maybe more. Heart of the Beast avoids being cliched. It competently made and has a survival narrative that keeps the viewer engaged, and is carried so well by the two co-leads, Pitt and the dog. Companionship is vital to survival in this movie. It’s a Dad Movie through and through.