J.K. Simmons’s Watkins shows up out of the woods in Heart of the Beast, drinks James’s beer, and leaves him a book. Then he rows off in a canoe with a deer skull on the back. It’s an odd visit, and I get why people ask if he was ever there. I don’t buy the ghost theory. Odin meets Watkins, and James still has the book after he goes.

James Meets Watkins Before The Crash

Watkins walks into camp before the plane crash. James is wary of a stranger this far from anyone else. Fair enough. But he is thinking clearly, and nothing about their meeting suggests the survival ordeal has already begun.

Odin sniffs Watkins and lets the man pet him. James relaxes a little. He offers Watkins a beer, then starts talking about their years in the military and the injuries Odin brought home. A few minutes earlier, he was keeping a hand near his rifle.

I like that Odin does the social work here. James can keep eyeing the visitor. The dog goes up and checks him out. The war James carried home has made ordinary conversation hard for him, but he talks to Watkins.

Watkins takes another beer from the cooler and leaves James a book with a note pointing to a passage. James finds it after Watkins is gone. A ghost theory has to account for that object sitting in his camp.

The Canoe Makes Him Look Like A Ferryman

Watkins leaves at dawn, rowing through mist with a deer skull fixed to his canoe. It calls up Charon, the boatman who ferries the dead across a river in Greek myth. Watkins also warns James about a storm. After the crash, that warning sounds a lot less casual.

The beer and book can look like Charon’s payment, too. I can see the appeal. Still, James never boards the canoe. He stays at camp with the book while Watkins rows off alone.

A man who rows that river would be worth listening to about the weather. The skull could simply be something Watkins put on his canoe. I like that Ayer leaves room for the ordinary explanation. The scene keeps its chill anyway.

The Book Stays With James

The marked passage talks about surviving cruelty and finding love again. James has just told Watkins about Odin, the companion he can speak about more easily than he can speak about himself. Later, James uses what strength he has left to get Odin to safety. The book comes back to mind then.

Watkins gets James to talk before the wilderness strips everything down to keeping Odin alive. The beer feels like a real break in James’s solitude. Then Watkins takes the canoe and goes. James has the book, but there will be no one to talk to for a while.

For me, Watkins is a person James meets at exactly the wrong time to forget. He gives James one decent conversation before everything goes wrong. The deer skull can stay mysterious. I wish James had listened more closely to the storm warning.

Daniel Wilson

Daniel has loved movies since he was four, when he started exploring a chest of drawers filled with VHS tapes. He writes about film with a particular interest in sci-fi, drama, and action. His favorites include the work of Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve, and David Fincher, along with Terminator, Predator, Alien, and Blade Runner.