"The Revenant" - Review

Give That Man An Oscar!

Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant

Alejandro González Iñárritu had a great 2014, earning himself best director and best picture for the excellent film Birdman. The success of that film paved the way for a major studio to let him make a big budget art film and boy did he deliver on that front. The Revenant is one of the most brutal and bold Hollywood films in recent memory. It is also an excellent film that is deserving of its 12(!) Academy Award nominations. Most deserving in those nominations is a very powerful Leonardo DiCaprio who may finally have his year of Oscar gold. About damn time.

The Revenant follows a group of fur trappers in 1823 in the wild American frontier. They are attacked by Native Americans early on and go on the run from them. During the chase, their navigator Hugh Glass gets devastatingly mauled by a grizzly bear and is left behind with a couple of people from his group who ultimately betray him and leave him for dead, along with his murdered half Native American son. Feeling motivated by this betrayal, Glass literally crawls out of his own grave and goes on a vindictive journey through the elements to get his revenge on those who wronged him.

As I do not want to spoil too much about the movie, I'm going to keep this review a little shorter and reasonably vague. I do not want to ruin the experience for you. However, this is a tremendously made film that features some of the best cinematography I have ever seen. The Revenant was allegedly filmed on in camera with natural lighting on location which is an icredible feat and it pays off. The image is gorgeous with muted earthy color tones and a grittiness that seems to spill out of the screen. This is a dour and violent film and the palette that Iñárritu has created here does that great justice. As unwatchable as some of the film's sequences are, it always finds the beauty in the murkiness and it is quite the powerful experience.

A lot of the buzz around the film is centered around Leonardo DiCaprio and deservedly so. This may be his best performance. One may look at the marketing and just see it as a performance where he screams and cries a lot. While that is partly true, there is so much more depth that he is able to mine out of this fascinating true story. He does not only showcase pain. He finds the complexity in it and shows pain of all different kinds, often times at the same time. There is one notable scene that he shares with his son after tragedy strikes him that is heartbreaking to behold. Later, he shares screen time with a native man he comes across during his journey that has brief levity and humanity that is much appreciated and is very effecting. There are many levels to DiCaprio's performance and he deserves to win that Oscar gold.

This is not a film for those of weak hearts. This is an unrelenting film and at 2 and a half hours and will prove to be too much for some viewers. In my screening there was a woman next to me who ended up in tears by the end because of its intensity. Do not just walk into this film without knowing what it is and without being prepared. This is essentially an art film on the scale of a Hollywood film, complete with horrific realistic violence and trippy dream sequences and visuals. This will alienate many, but those who think this sounds great will absolutely love it. I had an incredible time in this film and found a great amount of insight into the themes of man and nature and the consequences of vengeful violence.

I loved The Revenant. It features some of the best film-making in years and the best performance of the year. See it on the biggest screen possible and do not do a lot of reading before going in. It is best to be surprised by this one.

Grade: A+.

The Revenant is now playing.