Unremitting, implausible, impressive

Rating: 7/10 (4 June 2016)

Leonardo wins an Oscar, finally, but for what?
Endurance, probably. And that goes for the audience too, in this long, unremitting tale of implausible survivable in a hugely impressive setting.
This film is an oddity. The Cinematography is peculiar in several respects. Many of the panning shots are notably using a wide angled lens which shows as distortion at the edges. (IMAX?) The camera is seen several times as participating in the action. For example - blood and breath appearing on the lens, the actors actually crashing into the camera during the last fight sequence and Leonardo breaking the fourth wall at the conclusion. There are additional sound-track artefacts that serve no other purpose than to irritate.
Then there is the plot. This, disappointingly, is utterly implausible. The idea that anyone would have survived such a Grizzly Bear attack at all, never mind in the freezing conditions and without medical intervention is pushing its credibility beyond limits. The ability of the lead to survive and recover requires an impossible suspension of disbelief. So, as you are you are watching it, you are constantly saying, "not feasible", "oh come on" and "you must be friggin' joking"...
And why, BTW, did the Director insist on Tom Hardy's character's dialogue be utterly impenetrable? We should have had the foreign language subtitles for his character too.
The whole premise of the film, revenge, was left lacking as we neither cared whether any of the protagonists lived or died (except one death, which occurred fairly early).
You were, while watching, thinking, "Wow, di Caprio suffered for his art while filming this". Of course that was a problem, as you should have been thinking, "Wow, 'lead character' managed to survive all that!" (Whatever the lead character's name was, but who cares?)
So a feat of endurance indeed, both for the actors AND the audience...