The Revenant Review

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter

Most likely, you've heard of The Revenant. The epic revenge tale directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, the winner of last year's Oscar for Best Director (Birdman) and starring Leonardo DiCaprio has exploded both critically and commercially. It's been a box-office smash for the past few weeks, rekindling the same January spark American Sniper has last year. It also has more Oscar nominations than any other movie this year, with many saying Leo is a lock for a win, and will finally get the award he deserves. Having seen The Revenant (a little late, I'm ashamed to say), it really deserves the good word-of-mouth it has received. The movie is spectacularly beautiful. The cinematography, all filmed with natural light and real nature shots, is just breathtaking and stunning. The whole film is like a beautiful portrait of nature. This is contrasted by the horrible occurrences onscreen. After being mauled by a bear, frontiersman Hugh Glass is left for dead by his men. After tending to his wounds, he embarks on a journey to find and kill those who betrayed him. Have you heard of the bear scene? It really is as incredible as everyone says it is. The Revenant is more craft over content, and it has some flaws. But the moviegoing experience is so enthralling and engaging, it's worth it.

The Revenant is three hours of stunning shots. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki has earned an Oscar for the past two years for his visionary work on Gravity and Birdman. He's definitely winning a third consecutive award this year. The man is an artist, and this is some of the most breathtaking photography I've seen, and it's in a movie! If you've heard, this film was plagued by filming predicaments. They used all natural light so they had a limited time frame, and they had to change location when winter ended. Director Alejandro Iñárritu is a dedicated man, but the real dedication is seen in Leonardo DiCaprio. DiCaprio did his own stunts. He ate a bison liver, and slept inside a carcass, while losing a ridiculous amount of weight. Does he finally deserve an Oscar? I'd like to give him one so he doesn't kill himself with these roles (I was a little worried a couple times), and it looks like he's going to get it. It's probably the best performance of his since What's Eating Gilbert Grape.

Like I stated earlier, The Revenant is craft over content. As good as DiCaprio is, he has very few lines. In contrast, Tom Hardy has many lines, and you can barely understand most of what he says. I really enjoyed Hardy's performance, but I understood only about 60% of his dialogue. Also, with all of the beautiful cinematography, there's actually little that goes on onscreen. The Native American subplots are really cool, but there's a little to be desired. I just felt like I wanted more. The stunning visuals are fantastic, and the bear deserves its own special shout-out, but there's not a lot of substance. It's just your classic revenge story.

The Revenant is a fantastic movie. I loved it. I run into the same situation I ran into with American Sniper. Everybody loved that movie. Actually, they revered it. And it was a great movie, and incredibly well-made. But I felt that as a film enthusiast, I saw flaws that everyone else ignored. For The Revenant, the word-of-mouth is kind of the same. Everyone will be rooting for it at the Oscars, but I don't think it has a good chance at Best Picture. It's not a perfect film, but it's close. I could have also gone for a little shorter running time (it clocks in at almost 3 hours). If you haven't seen The Revenant already, what are you doing? Go see it, you'll be rewarded.

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