Heart of the Beast Is A Visual Treat, But Doesn't Say Anything New

SPOILER WARNING: This review may contain spoilers for the film Heart of the Beast.

What happens when survival depends on a bond between a retired US veteran and his combat dog? That’s the question director David Ayer tackles in his first foray into the survival thriller genre with Heart of the Beast. While Ayer shows off his directorial and military experience through the film’s incredible atmosphere and intricate attention to detail, the film falls short of standing out among other “left-in-the-wild” movies of its kind.

When the initial trailer made its way onto the internet, viewers compared Heart of the Beast to Jacob Elordi’s 2026 sci-fi flick The Dog Stars, given that both feature a man and his dog fighting to stay alive. While the comparison is apt, the former distinguishes itself as a man-vs-nature story instead of one about a man and his dog facing off against violent fictional reapers.

Heart of the Beast stars Brad Pitt as US Special Forces veteran James Belmont alongside Odin, his tough and scarred combat dog. The two camp out in the serene forests of Alaska to honor their fallen comrades, and during the film’s slow start, Ayer sets up the overarching mood beautifully: desaturated colors and long stretches of nature that give the film a restrained, almost meditative quality. 

The ball really starts to roll when James experiences a severe heart attack and is forced to crash-land his airplane. If the initial camping scenes are a promotional ad for hiking gear (Wildernesscore, anyone?), watching the two protagonists fight for their lives becomes a masterclass in what to wear and what to bring in the off chance you end up at the mercy of the wild. The film’s survival details reflect not only James’s experience, but also Ayer’s own background: he served in the US Navy during the Cold War.

Unfortunately, the aesthetics and thoroughness of the film’s worldbuilding couldn’t save the narrative from becoming a standard, by-the-book trek from set piece to set piece. Much of what follows feels predictable: ask someone to imagine a retired vet and his dog stranded in the forest, and more often than not, they will probably describe how the scenes unfold. It doesn’t hold back when it comes to showing the harshness of the situation, but it’s nothing that hasn’t already been explored with greater imagination in other nature-focused survival films.

The film’s momentum also gets occasionally interrupted by military flashbacks that don’t quite justify their inclusion until the final stretch. These flashbacks depict an unnamed conflict in a vaguely foreign country, with only radio chatter indicating that the two are the sole survivors of yet another unnamed squad. For much of the film, they neither show nor tell the audience anything it doesn’t already know, making their interruptions feel more distracting than illuminating.

Does this mean, then, that Heart of the Beast is a must-avoid? Not necessarily. For all its familiar beats, the film ultimately earns its title. One particular scene is a true highlight of the film and captures a hidden theme many may have missed amidst the thrill of watching James and Odin push through thanks to their indomitable human-dog bond. It’s in moments like this that the film’s central relationship becomes more than a survival mechanism. 

Ayer also wraps the whole story up with an unexpected yet fitting ending that allows his strengths as a director and his military background to give the film an emotional finish. I only wish that same emotional resonance had carried through the film’s entire runtime.

Heart of the Beast opens in Philippine cinemas on September 23.