The Revenant Review

The pure craft of this film is undeniable. I want to print and frame every single shot, apologize to Roger Deakins for probably missing out on that Oscar again, and spend the rest of my days marveling at the breathtaking beauty of Emmanuel Lubezki’s work. The two sequences that open the movie–the Arikara attack and the bear attack–are astonishing in both their brutality and in the skill that obviously went into them. After that, the film doesn’t reach those types of highs again, but the opening still sets the stage for two and a half hours of intensity, suffering, and violence.

The movie does have its problems, most of them stemming from Inarritu’s more irritating tendencies. He attempts to create a foundation for Hugh Glass’s revenge story, utilizing flashbacks and visions and thin supporting characters in order to provide us with an emotional connection to the character’s past. He also attempts to tackle the Native American perspective, but the problem is that he doesn’t have the tightest grasp around any material outside of the main plot. These other elements seem to exist solely to half-heartedly “enrich” Glass’s storyline, and it’s a shame because this film could’ve been more complex than it is now. Nevertheless, it does a simple revenge and survival plot well, and when it is able to commit to that, it is at its most compelling.

The anchors of this plot are Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy, both turning in excellent performances as Hugh Glass and John Fitzgerald, respectively. Whereas The Wolf of Wall Street featured a Leo doing physical comedy, this movie features a Leo doing physical misery. He doesn’t speak much throughout, and we are bombarded with image after image of him struggling to survive in the harsh conditions. It’s a very sensory experience for the audience, and Inarritu intends to show us every last bit of a cruel nature and emphasize a human’s capacity for survival. Lubezki’s gorgeous panoramas frequently capture similar ideas as well: one shot in particular consists of Glass walking toward snow-capped mountains in the background, and he’s just a small speck in an expansive wilderness. It’s serene, yet foreboding. Nature may be beautiful, but it will break you.

GRADE: A-

OTHER THOUGHTS:

-I need to watch that opening scene again. The camera follows one guy until he dies, then the next guy until he dies, and so on and so forth. It sounds so cool, and it IS really cool.

Photo credit: The Revenant, Anonymous Content, 20th Century Fox

Tags: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu The Revenant director, Arikara attack fight opening scene The Revenant, Bear attack CGI Lubezki DiCaprio The Revenant, Bear attack Hugh Glass scene The Revenant, Bear rape attack scene Leonardo DiCaprio The Revenant, Domhnall Gleeson Andrew Henry The Revenant, Elk Dog Arikara daughter Powaqa captured French The Revenant, Emmanuel Lubezki cinematography The Revenant, Emmanuel Lubezki natural light cinematography shooting The Revenant, Flashbacks hallucinations visions The Revenant, Forrest Goodluck Hawk Hugh Glass son death The Revenant, Fur trapping Fitzgerald Glass The Revenant, Hikuc Native American Hugh Glass The Revenant, Hugh Glass Leonardo DiCaprio looking into camera final scene The Revenant, Hugh Glass Native American Pawnee wife son language The Revenant, Hugh Glass true story revenge John Fitzgerald The Revenant, Inarritu The Revenant shooting conditions cold hypothermia, John Fitzgerald death fight scene The Revenant, John Fitzgerald kills Hawk Hugh Glass son The Revenant, Leonardo DiCaprio Hugh Glass Best Actor Oscar nomination winner The Revenant, Leonardo DiCaprio Hugh Glass sleeping in animal carcass The Revenant, Leonardo DiCaprio Tom Hardy Fitzgerald Glass fight scene The Revenant, Oscar awards predictions Leonardo DiCaprio wins, Rocky Mountain Fur Company Hugh Glass The Revenant, Ryuichi Sakamoto score music The Revenant, The Revenant DVD screener leaked online, The Revenant ending analysis, The Revenant review, Tom Hardy John Fitzgerald Best Supporting actor nominations awards, Will Poulter Jim Bridger The Revenant