Must See Movie Event, But...

Rating: 5/10 (10 January 2016)

I give the Revenant 8 out of 10 stars on here. That's good, but not great. It is definitely a must see film of the year as this may finally be DiCaprio's first Oscar victory, and because it is quite an experience. While it is definitely a "good" film, it falls short of greatness due to a rather boring opening ninety minutes (except for a few short scenes) and a sort of lack of explanations for certain behaviors of its' characters. This is not a criticism because what it does present us does suffice, but simultaneously I felt like I would have liked to have gotten to know the other characters a little bit more, particularly the son and the chief of the village who goes to hunt for Fitzgerald at the end. Also, the beginning opening is rather confusing as it is hard to tell who is who and what is what, and why this is happening, despite a nice action opening.
All that being said, I was not disappointed and would definitely recommend this movie. It is sort of a like a Castaway meets The Grey meets Dances With Wolves? Either way, it definitely deserves some award recognition. It won't be for everybody mostly due to the boredom that stems from so much time with nothing happening and the length, but if you can stick with it, it is definitely a good film. In all honesty, I found myself rooting for Leo most of the film toward the end: "Come on DiCaprio, don't mess this up. Nail all your lines and facial expressions. Get this Oscar. Come on, don't mess up! You can do it. Get your Oscar"..