Raw, implausible, at times hard to watch, but OK

Rating: 6/10 (25 April 2016)

It's raw on purpose, trying to make this into a kind of "documentary". But, it doesn't work, because what's happening is so implausible. Sure, any part of it is just about on the verge of possible, but, all, put together, it's way too much.
What's more, you kind of not get the point of going so much in the impossible. In general, a point of survival movies is to explore the limits of possibility. So, why push it so beyond reason this much? The legend behind this seems to be enough, no need to spice it up. I failed to see the point and I gave up trying when Leo went Han Solo on the dead horse in the snow.
Having said that, the movie is actually OK. Story is coherent, camera work is good, the bear is nice. Yeah, the bear encounter opens up a lot of jokes for all who don't like Di Caprio that much, but that is not what I meant. The casting of Di Caprio is off base, but also interesting, blending in to the tone of implausible. The fact is, I like the implausible angle (the legend is quite implausible, really, it makes sense to play with that), but, it went way too far.
Had it not gone so overboard, it might have actually been good.