incredible Story Wasted

Rating: 3/10 (1 February 2016)

Please don't pay to watch this film, unless you like wasting your time as well as your money.
However it starts with much promise, the opening scene was incredible, it has to be one of the most immersive spectacular opening scenes I've watched since The Dark Knight. And the visual assault continues as they evade their attackers. We are plunged into more spectacular scenery as a small group of men try to escape the Indian attackers in a vast snowy wilderness where only Leo knows his way around the mountainous land.
Once they progress through the wild, Leo gets attacked by a grizzly bear. This is one of the most important scenes in the film where Leo is left in a critical condition and what a fantastic scene it is. So realistic and intimate you can practically feel the power of the bear from your seat.
Once Leo is left for dead by Hardy, the film ends for me. Be prepared for another couple hours of just snow, crawling and Leo surviving almost certain death experiences. And to be honest, you'll be wishing he had died so you could have left earlier. As for the dialogue, well of what little dialogue there is, it mostly goes to Hardy who obviously decided he's incapable of doing a Texan accent so decides to mumble his way through his lines.
Overall the film is character-less. The whole story is based around Leo's quest to avenge his sons killer. Iñárritu is unsuccessful in making us empathize with Leo. In my opinion, this is ultimately why the film failed. It could have been an incredible film but Iñárritu failed drastically in everything but the fantastic scenery.
Leo will inevitably get his Oscar and for what, a performance which solely contained him just crawling around surviving, Madness.