DiCaprio's more than just a pretty boy

Rating: 8/10 (15 February 2016)

Leonardo DiCaprio is primarily known for playing dashing men but this film had him going out of his comfort zone. And do you know what? He did a great job. I'm not a DiCaprio fan but I thought he was well cast in this role. He played a harsh, angry man driven by a desire to survive for his son and later a desire to avenge his death. While he wasn't exactly a great father as shown by his rather harsh behavior around the kid, Hugh Glass' son was his main motivation for living and after his death, all he had left was revenge. Furthermore his harshness towards the boy fits the nature of the film which is essentially about survival of the fittest. Evidently Glass' son was not the fittest.
The film is bleak and dark but in no way does that make it bad because the bleak atmosphere was entirely intentional. There was also a rather shocking amount of blood and even a brief rape scene. This is a very masculine movie with very few women and none in a main role. The Indian Chief was often talking about his daughter but throughout the entire movie, she was only on screen for about five minutes which was slightly disappointing. I liked the open ending where it implied that Glass was dying when he saw his late wife in the snow. He claimed he felt like he was already dead by that point so to him, killing Fitzgerald was just tying up a loose end before his spirit could actually leave his body.
I liked the subtle little touches DiCaprio added to his performance. He had quite a few scenes where he wasn't talking so he needed to do more than just show off his good looks. For example after he used a horse as transport and later shelter after it died when they fell off a cliff, he gave its body a gentle touch before he left which I interpreted as him thanking it for keeping him alive. The harsh, wheezing voice he used towards the end of the movie is explained by his throat injury as well as the fact that he had no reason to talk between the time where his Indian friend was killed and he was found by the search party. However I wouldn't say DiCaprio was completely perfect, although he was pretty damn close. When Glass found his son's body, I think tears would have made his performance even stronger and even more deserving of his BAFTA award. To be fair, he was playing the kind of man who most likely saw tears as a sign of weakness but I would have liked to see a tiny bit more vulnerability in this tough and harsh character. However that's literally the only criticism I can give him. DiCaprio was still easily great enough to show that it's not only his looks that make him such a successful actor and I'm pleased that he finally won an award.
DiCaprio carried the movie and prevented me from losing interest despite its long running time. Tom Hardy was also good as Fitzgerald but I was more impressed by DiCaprio because he broke out of his typical pretty boy role and tried something different.