The Revenant -- Contains Spoilers

Rating: 7/10 (18 March 2016)

CONTAINS SPOILERS The Revenant is a film that fits into genres such as adventure, drama, thriller, and western. The major actors within the film are as follows:  Leonardo DiCaprio – Hugh Glass  Tom Hardy – John Fitzgerald  Domhnall Gleeson – Captain Andrew Henry  Will Poulter – Bridger  Forrest Goodluck – Hawk
The film was inspired by the real life experience of Hugh Glass, a frontiersman in the 1820s America. Glass and his son Hawk were navigators on a team of fur trappers during a harsh winter in America around the 1820s. The film follows the team as they are hunted down by a tribe of Native Americans looking for the Chief's daughter. One day, as the team rests, Glass decides to venture on to look for the route they will be following, as he is walking through the woods, he is mauled by a bear. As it quickly becomes too difficult to care for Glass, the Captain asks who would like to stay with Glass while the others go get help. Hawk, Bridger, and Fitzgerald (who is only in it for the money) volunteer to stay behind.
A couple days pass and Fitzgerald decides Glass isn't going to make it so he tries to kill him but Hawk gets in the way and is stabbed. Fitzgerald then makes up a story that the Native Americans are close and that he and Bridger must leave Glass in a makeshift grave in order to survive. Glass, who is still alive, soon finds the strength to pull himself up and make his way to the main camp to get revenge on Fitzgerald for killing his son.
The Revenant and the film Unbroken are movies with a theme of survival. The Revenant also has a theme of revenge twisted within it. The entire movie revolves around the theme of survival whether it is the fur trapping team running from the Native Americans or Glass living through the bear attack to get his revenge on Fitzgerald. Survival and revenge play a role together in the sense that Glass would not have survived without that need for revenge on Fitzgerald.
The make-up and costume design was a technique used to help sell the theme of survival and revenge. After Glass gets mauled by the bear we see so much blood and gore that it makes the audience think there is no way he is able to survive. We see the pain Glass endures when he tries to stand on his broken ankle for the first time.
The camera work in this film was amazing. In one of the first scenes when the fur trappers are being hunted by the Native Americans, we see all different camera angles. The ones I found most appealing were shots where it looked as if the camera man were running away from the tribe shooting. You get to see arrows flying in from all directions and men dropping as they are being shot. When Glass is forced to float down the river is another example of great camera work. We see shots above water and then shots below the water level and it makes you feel as if you are right there beside Glass trying to fight for your life.
All in all the film is pretty good. I rather enjoy films based on survival, but not so much the revenge part. There are a few parts throughout the film I became a little bored and thought they could have cut some of the scenes out, bit again a good film and the acting was pretty amazing from all the actors involved.