A dog steals all the limelight from Brad Pitt

It seemed impossible, but in this thriller of extreme survival there is a star that shines brighter than Brad Pitt: Uber, the canine actor who plays Odin, an ex-combat dog who faithfully accompanies his master, a retired Special Forces officer (Pitt), on an odyssey through the remote mountains of Alaska. The sensitivity with which David Ayer (a specialist in gritty police cinema, and who had already directed the actor in Fury) describes the deep bond that can be established between a human being and their dog, underscored by the natural chemistry that arose between Pitt and the animal, is the only thing that can be saved from a film that transforms the sense of wonder of adventure cinema into a high-end version of a survival reality show.

It is difficult to get excited or even empathize with the protagonist, a military version of MacGyver who, despite suffering a heart attack, a plane crash, a fall through some rapids, or being attacked by hungry wolves (created with horrible CGI), seems to have a solution – and the appropriate accessory or tool – for every occasion. We are left, then, with Odin, or Uber, but not even the most candid close-ups of this beautiful German Shepherd can hide the stale smell of a film with a discourse that, despite addressing the personal cost of war conflicts, cannot avoid casting an epic look at the supposed intrinsic values of the armed forces.