Bleak, beautiful and brutal visual poetry

Rating: 9/10 (8 February 2016)

The Revenant tells the story of Hugh Glass, a frontiersman who is mauled by a bear and then left for dead by his hunting team. Following this, Glass goes on a harrowing journey through the wilderness to find and take revenge upon the man who left him to die. The Revenant is not so much a film as a simulator. As Leonardo DiCaprio lives in the wild, we live in the wild alongside him. We remain fully engaged in his story and thanks to the stunning direction, every scene in involving and we are there with the characters ever step of the way. Want to know what it's like to live in the Alaskan wilderness? Look no further. As for DiCaprio, he needs that Oscar now. He doesn't say much throughout the film, yet he remains an emotionally devastating, engaging and fully believable force of nature through the entire movie, and as a physical performance it's truly astonishing. The Revenant is not an easy watch. It's brutal, hard hitting and unbearably intense. To add to that it's also a pretty sad movie as well. You may not enjoy it, but most will be moved by it.
It's not as good as Birdman, Alejandro González Iñárritu's last movie, since it's too long and at times is just a bit too much. It's not necessarily a film I'd be up for seeing again, but it's a monumental achievement. The lack of plot is effective and allows the film to focus on the hugely gut wrenching survival stuff while the themes of the movie are subtle, but they're definitely there. This is deep in some ways, but thankfully without shoving it down our throats. DiCaprio is backed by several other fine performances, but even with DiCaprio's amazing acting an argument could be made that Iñárritu is the star of the show alongside cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki. With some of the most amazing cinematography of recent years, and some of the most consistently involving, mind numbingly intense direction of the year, The Revenant is a visual marvel. Overall, it's a really, really good film with many incredible moments. It's bleak, breath-taking, powerful, ferocious and harrowing. And that's just the bear attack scene.
9/10