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Rating: Null/10 (6 May 2017)

Left for dead by his companions after being mauled by a bear, an 1820s fur trapper traverses tough terrain to avenge the murder of his son in this epic scale drama starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. Lasting several minutes, the bear attack is very graphic and between the brooding score (co-written by the masterful Ryuichi Sakamoto) and Emmanuel Lubezki's mobile cinematography, 'The Revenant' is often appropriately moody and atmospheric. There is, however, little escaping how relatively simple the plot it is, and as DiCaprio predictably comes across mounting obstacles while trying to locate Hardy, the movie soon turns repetitive. The fact that it takes him the better part of two hours to locate Hardy lessens the tension; his quest is dragged out for so long that his bloodlust fades into the background. More scenes establishing the bond between DiCaprio and his son may have helped, but the film might have also simply been more potent at half the length (twice the intensity). Certainly the contrast between the lush yet hostile landscapes and the hatred at hand renders the film interesting and with thoughtfully accentuated audio effects and the aforementioned virtues, this is a hard film not to recommend. It does take an incredible amount of patience to get through, however, and awesome as the ending may well be, the journey to get there often feels overly protracted.