Heart Of The Beast Review: Man's Best Friend Thriller Hits Right In The Feels

It's simple, and cuts a few corners, but David Ayer and Brad Pitt's sincere survival thriller is a visceral experience that earns every tear shed.

Published Sep 22, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT

Alex is the Senior Editor of Reviews & Prestige Content, overseeing ScreenRant's film reviews as one of its Rotten Tomatoes-approved critics. After graduating from Brown University with a B.A. in English, he spent a locked-down year in Scotland completing a Master's in Film Studies from the University of Edinburgh, which he hears is a nice, lively city. He now lives in and works from Milan, Italy, conveniently a short train ride from the Venice Film Festival, which he first covered for SR in 2024.

There's a reason that killing a dog on-screen was considered a major Hollywood taboo – putting one in your movie is like an emotional cheat code. It takes a little legwork to get audiences to invest in human characters. With a dog, especially one in peril, the stakes are immediately there. That's why it's worth going into a film like Heart of the Beast with a bit of skepticism. I'm not usually one to criticize a movie for being emotionally manipulative, but when that movie is about a war hero dog and his human trying to beat the odds to survive, it's worth wondering whether that involuntary tear in your eye was really earned.

This new survival thriller does take a couple storytelling shortcuts that I wish it hadn't, and that it would be a better film without. But I can't accuse it of being cheap. Director David Ayer is working with a fairly simple emotional range, and rather than try and complicate it, he grounds it in experiential filmmaking that is both visceral and sincere. The result is a story that, once it really gets going, becomes and stays involving, eventually reaching an emotional crescendo that still hits hard even if you can see it coming from a mile away. Heart of the Beast doesn't have many surprises up its sleeve, but you will certainly get what you came for.

Heart Of The Beast's Early Choices Do The Movie's Gritty Journey A Disservice

The movie is set in the remote Alaskan wilderness, where Special Forces officer James Belmont (Brad Pitt) and his former combat dog Odin are enjoying a hard-earned retirement. Their bond seems easy and loving when we meet them, but they both bear plenty of scars, both physical and psychic. At first, Odin seems the most affected; on top of a prosthetic leg and titanium teeth, he also suffers from post-traumatic nightmares. But James' wounds run just as deep. It's no accident he's chosen to come where he can be confident he won't have to interact with another human being.

Unfortunately for him, one does find him – a more experienced retiree (J.K. Simmons), traveling by canoe, who looks like he walked out of the pioneer age. As nervous as it might have made execs, I would have cut this early scene. It's too transparently designed to give voice to information that the movie won't get the opportunity to again. I feel the same about the very first scene, a brief flash-forward that ostensibly builds a sense of mystery, but actually ensures the audience won't worry about the dog too much. Especially given the film that follows, both of these choices are far too easy. Heart of the Beast would've been well-served by a bit more bravery from Ayer & Co.

The sense of danger becomes palpable; the characters' survival feels miraculous.

Thankfully, the movie gets into a better rhythm soon after Simmons' character departs, and tragedy strikes. James and Odin are traveling around Alaska in a small plane that James flies himself, but as they leave their latest campsite, he suffers a heart attack mid-flight. Ayer's calm, steady hand is an asset here, as the scene is allowed to build its own momentum. The sense of danger becomes palpable; the characters' survival feels miraculous. It won't be the last time a set piece plays like that in this movie, and that's the biggest reason why it works.

After making it out of the immediate peril, the pair are faced with a deadly challenge. They've crashed quite far from civilization. No one is coming to save them. Their only option is to hike nearly 60 miles across difficult, dangerous terrain to the nearest road. Ayer makes sure that we are acutely aware of the challenges they face at any given moment, and the struggle required to overcome them. It gives James' suffering some real weight, as his body takes blow after vicious blow.

By The End, Heart Of The Beast's Survival Tale Is Genuinely Moving

That said, Heart of the Beast is not a punishing film by any means. There is a sense of safety to it. I attribute some of that to the instinct to coddle the viewer I referenced above; some also comes from the camera's willingness to zoom way out and capture the surrounding wilderness, which is framed as wondrously beautiful, rather than savagely unforgiving. But most of it is due to the bond between man and dog that warms up every frame. I must admit, when coupled with the veteran element (about which the film is just as uncomplicated), it does, at times, resemble one of those heartwarming beer commercials. Had Ayer been any less committed to the portrayal of pain, it may have become that saccharine.

...the movie's success is confirmed by its ending, which is played straight down the middle and hits like a sledgehammer.

Thankfully, the performers are there to give the relationship proper texture, and I'm including the dog in that category. Odin is a strong, soulful presence. Whatever magic creates it, be it the editing, the on-set trainer, or the way Pitt plays off him, you really do feel that he is a force for good in a world that saw fit to show him horrors. He is the ideal that James strives for. As much as Pitt works in this role, I did wonder whether Heart of the Beast really needed a movie star like him at its center. Eventually, I decided James benefits from the sense of imperviousness that comes from Pitt's casting, though it took me a while to come up with that. This won't be one of his most memorable parts.

Ultimately, the movie's success is confirmed by its ending, which is played straight down the middle and hits like a sledgehammer. Anna Lambe deserves credit for her small but crucial part in it; mostly by just being on-screen, she brings exactly the presence the scene needs. Heart of the Beast will leave you with that pleasant sensation of well-earned cathartic release, and though I'm not sure how lasting an impact it'll have, you're unlikely to regret having bought your ticket.

Heart of the Beast releases in theaters on Friday, September 25.