Visually Awesome! Mundane Storyline! Bear Scene is Epic! Overall Worth Watching!

Rating: 7/10 (23 January 2016)

The one thing that really got me thinking upon completing this film is, how did DiCaprio know that this was going to be a good movie? I can't imagine anything about the script would cause an A list actor to jump on the role. It's essentially a vengeance type film (someone wronged/killed you or your family)... this film adds the extra element that the hero has to achieve this while being on deaths door and has to drudge through insanely beautiful terrain to do it. Also to note, the bear attack scene is unbelievable! It's the best CGI I've ever seen. Anyways, did DiCaprio go to a psychic, or maybe I'm just missing something? I would love to know what caused him to choose this role? I can imagine he wanted the challenge of doing something different from anything he had ever done before. With one of the big challenges in this role being very little dialogue and having to rely on facial expressions etc. Very difficult role and he was excellent as always (I'm not sure if this will get him the best actor nomination, but it may). I can imagine one of the motivating factors was, Dicaprio had just completed Wolf of Wall street, which I wouldn't be surprised if it holds the record for the most dialogue for a character in the history of cinema. So DiCaprio now jumps completely on the opposite side of the spectrum in this film.
Overall this movie is worth the watch for most people. As I said, the plot is very simple, but the visuals are perfect.
Some nit picks, which has spoilers. Watching the hero of the film drudge around in constant pain gets to be kind of draining. I can take it for a little bit, but dude! And when Hugh (Dicaprio) eventually catches up to the villain dude... I understand they want to make it suspenseful, but to me it comes across really lame and cheesy when everything for the most part had taken the straight arrow realistic movie style to that point only for it to result in your typical hero meets villain final fight scene, with back and forths with both people getting stabbed and beat etc. Hugh had been spot on with the gun up until the final scene where he grazes the villain at point blank range. Now we get to watch Hugh take more abuse...oye very!!! I would have rather the suspense revolve around the villain breaking away from Hugh to were it seems as though he just might be home free only for Hugh to do something drastic in order to find him and/or catch up with him. No need for corny back and forths.