The Wonderful Visuals Bring the Film to Life

Rating: Null/10 (22 February 2016)

The Revenant (2015)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Visually striking drama/action film about guide Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) who crosses a grizzly bear and is seriously wounded. Before long the man (Tom Hardy) left back to protect him leaves him to do as well as taking away someone very close to Glass, which leads to a tale of revenge.
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu has quickly become one of the greatest directors in regards to visuals and it pretty much happened over his last two movies including this. As with last year's BIRDMAN, this film here takes the director's visual style to a whole new level and it helps create a rather unique and original looking film that takes on a subject that has been told before but it works.
I say this type of story has been done before and it has countless times. With that said, more than likely the majority of people watching this film hasn't seen the story before because we really haven't seen this type of Western in several decades. I think it's fair to call this a Western but it's rather hard to imagine the Indian massacre, the bear battle or the intense ending not making this a Western in its own way.
The strongest thing about this film are the visuals but we've also got a couple excellent performances from DiCaprio and Hardy. Both men are wonderful in their roles and this is especially true for Hardy who is just so cold blooded and evil that you can't help but want to see him in a lot of pain. The actor does a marvelous job building up this character without too many words but when he does say something it rings right through you. As for DiCaprio, I'm not going to lie but he's one of my favorite actors and he has been since I first saw him in THIS BOY'S LIFE back when it was released. I don't think this is one of his greatest performances but he is still wonderful here and especially since he has to do the majority of the acting with his eyes.
The film's settings are another major plus as you really do feel and believe what you're seeing on the screen. The director does an excellent job at making you feel everything that the lead character feels and this includes the now already legendary bear attack. The film's brutal violence is another major plus because it just makes everything seem a lot more realistic. THE REVENANT is certainly one of the most beautiful looking movies you'll see from 2015 and it has two great actors delivering excellent performances.