The Revenant

"As long as you can still grab a breath, you fight. You breathe... keep breathing."

Filmology Rating: 3.5 out of 4

Where to even begin with this review…. The Revenant will leave you at a loss for words. Just the amount of pain and suffering that this man had to go through in order to stay alive was simply exhausting to watch. Inspired by true events, Hugh Glass leads an expedition into the wilderness for the fur trapping business. After getting attacked by the Cree, their group is forced to flee into the woods. Soon after, Glass is attacked by a very upset momma grizzly bear and then left for dead by his group when caring for him while being on the run became too much for the group. Without giving away any more than that away, this movie is about his unrelenting drive and desire to cheat death and survive. As I mentioned earlier, this movie was exhausting to watch because of the amount of hardships this man had to go through in order to survive. He had to battle the Cree, fight off a pissed grizzly bear, battle against the brutal cold of Mother Nature, fight starvation and dehydration, and much more. One of the reasons this movie is exhausting to watch is because you feel so connected to this character. A majority of the movie is him alone in the wilderness and you feel like you are there with him. Leonardo DiCaprio is absolutely amazing in this movie. I don’t think that he has ever been better but then again, this is by far the most demanding movie that he has ever done. 9 months of grueling filming that ranged from Canada to Argentina in the freezing cold, running around in ice cold water, actually sleeping in an animal carcass, and also eating a raw bison liver…. If those things don’t speak volumes as to the dedication that Leo has for his craft then I don’t know what will. He is phenomenal in this movie along with Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, and Will Poulter. The Revenant doesn’t have excess dialogue throughout the film so it relies heavily on the physicality of the actors, facial expression, and raw emotion. Each of these actors portrayed this perfectly.

Now on to the wonderful directing of Alejandro Iñárritu; after watching Birdman last year, I was so excited to see what he had next in store and what he could do for this film. The scenic landscape throughout the movie was captured beautifully through the long panoramic shots in this film. This movie is eye candy to look at and was very enjoyable. One thing that I didn’t like however is that Iñárritu couldn’t resist leaving out the “metaphors” or the “symbolical shots ” in this film. Hugh Glass for some time was hallucinating, dreaming, or having flashbacks and the metaphors and artsy symbolisms felt forced and out of place for me. I felt it lost some focus and intensity of the film. It would have worked better to keep the flashbacks in the film and leave out the hallucinations or if need be, or just make the hallucinations more clear and to the point. Apart from this, I think the directing was spot on. He will be in the running for an Oscar for sure along with many other aspects of this film. If Leo doesn’t win an Oscar for this film then I don’t know what else he could do. He truly does deserve it because it has been a long time coming from him. Now keep in mind that this movie is 2hrs and 36mins so it is a very long movie and at times will feel slow. The slowness will be a turn off for many people along with the brutal nature of this film. It is extremely graphic and uncomfortable at times so be prepared for that. Overall, this has been one of the best movies this year and deserves to be seen.

Rating: See It

-Nick