The Revenant
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter
Directed by: Alejandro Iñárritu
Rated: R
The Revenant is a film of many themes.
The first is man vs. man. It's the struggle of man fighting against one another in the dangerous 19th century frontier. This theme is illustrated brutally through the Frontiersman vs. the Natives and on a more personal level by Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) vs. John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy).
The second theme is man vs. nature, as clearly presented by Glass' journey through the wilderness. Throughout the film, Glass fights through the harsh winter elements to survive. The question is can he do it?
That leads to the third and most obvious theme: perseverance against insurmountable obstacles. This ties all of the themes together. Can man survive against man, nature, and his own past to keep fighting for life?
The Revenant is very loosely based on the life of 19th century frontiersman Hugh Glass, a fur trader who is left for dead by his team after being viciously attacked by a bear. After the attack, Hugh sets out on a journey of survival and revenge.
The stand out of The Revenant is the magnificent cinematography. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki completely immerses the viewer in the natural setting of the film. What makes it even more impressive is that every shot was filmed using natural light, no stage lights were used in the movie. It is art brought to the screen. In my opinion, this is the best cinematography of any film from 2015. Every scene takes on a stunning naturalistic appearance.
Obviously, the other stand out of The Revenant is Leonardo DiCaprio. His performance as Hugh Glass is fantastic. He barely talks in the film, yet his facial expressions convey everything we need to know about what he's going through. Pain, fear, anger, sadness, and perseverance are all expressed with very few words. I really do think it's his year to win the Oscar. Although I would have said that when he was nominated for The Aviator and What's Eating Gilbert Grape….so who knows? Just show him all the blueprints.
The film's score is perfectly fitting, evoking haunting instrumental melodies mixed with the sounds of nature.
As you can tell there were many elements I enjoyed in The Revenant. In terms of filmmaking quality, acting, and cinematic scale: this is an epic film.
However, it's not an all around perfect movie. As many of you know, The Revenant is directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. He directed last year's Best Picture winner, Birdman. While I admired Birdman’s cinematography, I felt it was overly pretentious. Thankfully,The Revenant is a much better film. However, after watchingThe Revenant, I realized my main problem with Iñárritu's filmmaking style is he focuses on artistic elements over character and plot development.
The character development inThe Revenant could have been so much stronger. We never know enough about Hugh Glass' background and family. We know he is a fur trapper. We see him endure an incredible journey through the wilderness. But what else do we know about him? Not a lot. We are continuously shown a flashback sequence of Glass and his family that's supposed to provide character depth, but it's not enough. What caused Glass to become a fur trapper? What lead to the situation involving his wife? What is his relationship with his wife and son's tribe? These are all questions that could have been dealt with deeper in the plot instead of scattered flashback sequences.
Speaking of character development, many praise Tom Hardy as John Fitzgerald, but I was not a fan. His character feels like a stereotypical villain. Most of his dialogue and facial expressions are very over the top. It's already clear that Glass is the one we root for in the story, we don't need to make the villain that obvious.
While The Revenant could have used stronger character development, it remains a brutal, surreal, and beautiful film. You won't be able to forget the film's unbelievable natural cinematography, message of survival, and performance by Leonardo DiCaprio.
My Rating: 8/10