Brad Pitt has really gone to the dogs.
In “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Brad’s Cliff Booth’s pit bull terrier, Brandy, turns out to be his secret weapon when the Manson family comes calling. Brandy didn’t get enough credit, I feel.
Now, in the heart stopping “Heart of the Beast,” Brad is partnered with a German Shepherd he brought home from war. His name is Odin, and if he’s not nominated for Best Supporting Actor something is terribly wrong. (There are actually four dogs who play Odin, and they should all be applauded.)
David Ayer directed this survivalist movie, and it’s a triumph — exciting, gorgeously shot, a real entertainment.
“Heart of the Beast” is really a two hander, or a four-pawer. Pitt’s James, a former Green Beret, crashes his plane in the Alaska wilderness.. His companion is Odin, who’s seen his own combat horrors and now sports one prosthetic leg. The two are devoted to each other, and always have their guard up. They’ll need it.
Once the plane is destroyed, and the two have survived nearly drowning in a wild down river scene, the plan is to travel on foot for fifty eight miles — calculated by James on a paper map, with a compass — to the only sign of civilization. It’s going to be a brutal trip, but the pair seem up to it even when you think it’s impossible.
The only person they meet along the way is JK Simmons, a fellow traveler with a great beard, whose presence is really so we can get a little bit of James’s history. As much as I expected Odin to start talking at any moment, the Simmons character is necessary to flesh out a little back story.
David Ayer, who directed Brad in “Fury,” and Oscar winning cinematographer Marco Fiore work from an unexpected script by Cameron Alexander with passion and detail. The whole time you’re watching James and Odin survive one battle after another. you’re thinking, they’ll be alright, this is a movie, there’s a crew we don’t see. On the other hand, they’re really filming the wild world of nature, there’s no faking it. The elements are not contrived.
Brad Pitt has his Oscar, and a bunch of hits like “Fury” and “F1.” He’s got his Cliff Booth movie coming at Thanksgiving. At 60 he didn’t have to put himself through such physical punishment. And even with stunt doubles, “Heart of the Beast” is no cake walk. But he gives James soulful eyes and a weary resignation that James could be on his last adventure, and you can’t help but be on the edge of your seat from beginning to end.
A total winner.
