So, after seeing Star Wars: The Force Awakens a couple more times, I managed to see The Revenant. Director Alejandro Inarrito is clearly on fire right now – and earning every ounce of “director to watch” when his first feature film Amores Perros came out. Then 21 Grams, Babel, Biutiful, and Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) pretty much makes Inarritu a genius director to me. The Revenant continues his genius and will surely make it’s mark at Oscar time.
In the 1820’s a frontiersman on a fur trading expedition must fight to stay alive after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting party.
To start, The Revenant is such a beautiful film. Emmanuel Lubezki’s cinematography is nothing short of mesmerizing, dare I say, glorious. He immerses you in every scene, many of which are without dialogue or music.
He just leaves you in this place, causing you to feel like you are actually there, not just watching on a screen. There is a true sense of 1820’s American wilderness.
Leonardo DiCaprio may well get his Oscar this year. He is exceptional. And Tom Hardy is as incredible as ever as one of the men on Leo’s hunting/trapping team. His southern accent is perfect and he is completely transformed. Also excellent is Domhall Gleeson, who seems to be having a fine year end, as he is also in a little film called The Force Awakens. I assume you know that if you’re reading any article on the site. 🙂
There is much in The Revenant about revenge, survival, redemption, and the indigenous people of America and how they were treated. There are moments of sorrow, action, contemplation, and visceral violence and realism. And yes, among those scenes is the much-discussed bear attack scene, which is rather intense, and a bit of a marvel when you know how it was done (that bear ain’t even there for real).
A amazing thing about The Revenant is that the narrative is rather simple, but the atmosphere and cinematography are so strong, you don’t care. I was absorbed the whole time. In the end, The Revenant is beautiful and worth every moment of the two hours and 36 minutes. This is easily an Oscar-worthy film, and it’s near a full five kittenhands from me.
~ Neil T. Weakley, your average movie-goer, now looking forward to seeing Anomalisa.