Blood, sweat and ice

Rating: 9/10 (31 January 2016)

Ever since the first teaser for The Revenant came out, I was hyped out of my mind for this film. The amazing cinematography was already apparent in that 1 minute clip and is an amazing achievement for director Alejandro González Iñárritu . This was sure to be a cinematic masterpiece but would the story and characters be up to par with the visuals? Well, yes they are, but it's complicated...
As seen in the trailers The Reveant is about a man named Hugh Glass, played amazingly by Leonardo DiCaprio. Glass is traveling with a hunting party who go out right before winter to collect pelts to sell. Glass is responsible for the security of the companionship and has to make some tough calls in doing so. After a tragedy that befell him and his family, he never loses sight of his half-blood son Hawk.
Suddenly, the hunting party is under attack by a group of natives who force them to flee the scene and leave over twenty companions dead. Glass has to guide the party back to their stronghold but not everyone has much faith left in his judgment. Fitzgerald, portrayed by Tom Hardy, openly critiques Glass and his half-blood son. Things take a turn for the worse when DiCaprio's character is attacked by a bear in what is one of the most intense, gruesome and gritty scenes I have ever seen! The bear attack is a cinematic milestone on its own and is worth the price of admission if you have a strong enough stomach! It's after this attack that the story really picks up.
When Fitzgerald kills Hawk, he leaves Glass in a hole in the ground to die. It's at that point that the film turns into a tale of vengeance and survival as DiCaprio's character has to find a way to survive in brutal conditions on top of tracking down Fitzgerald to get his revenge.
What follows is a journey through a gorgeous and huge landscape, with danger around every corner. DiCaprio has to fight the elements, hunger, disease and death all while being hunted by natives.
As said earlier, The Revenant is visually breathtaking. Action scenes are often filmed in one shot that run for several minutes on end! It's this choice of not cutting up shots, that makes the action all the more intense (E.G. the bear attack) but more so for the drama! When DiCaprio is fighting the cold, you feel like you're right there with him, laying in the snow. When Glass is tending his gruesome wounds, you're cringing up and feel the pain he's going through. I'll just say what has to be said: DiCaprio has to win the Oscar this time! There is just no more way around him! If the academy wants even more dedication from DiCaprio before giving it to him, he's going to have to die, literally, while acting.
Tom Hardy is yet again on top of his game making him a serious contender for an Oscar in the near future! To see a British man play an American from the South, complete with the right accent and look, is just a massive achievement for Hardy as an actor!
The Revenant heavily relies on its sense of realism. In every aspect of it's storytelling, the sense of realism is there. The action is violent, gritty and bloody! The acting is in a realm above acting because none of the actors are pretending... They are actually freezing to death on screen in an unforgiving landscape and torturing weather!
The movie is not flawless however. There is one problem regarding the storytelling which I have to discuss. We as an audience are supposed to be devastated when Hawk is killed. The problem is that he isn't really likable as a character because he spends his time complaining and doesn't do much else. Though the relationship between Glass and his son is obviously that of a father and son but we never see them interact in a playful or fun way. Which doesn't help redeem Hawk's blandness. Glass is either harshly disciplining Hawk or they're hugging it out in flashbacks. So when Hawk dies, you're not really emotionally invested in what's happening because you don't care enough about Hawk to really be heartbroken. What does pull you into it however, is DiCaprio's performance! You really want to see him get his revenge but not because of what happened to his son, but because what he has to go through to get it. And while that's a major compliment to DiCaprio, it's also a flaw in the storytelling.
Another minor detail which I noticed was that the dubbing of certain lines really didn't match the movement of the lips. A lot of the native characters have this problem. Granted, their lines are all Indian which is really difficult to pull off given the use of long consecutive shots. However, this problem didn't occur for DiCaprio which is another compliment for him as an actor.
In summary I can say that The Revenant has met my expectations and that despite one apparent problem in the storytelling, The Revenant is a cinematic triumph! With amazing cinematography, superior acting and heart stopping action, The Revenant is a film you can't afford not to see in theaters!