I have to side with the skeptics

Rating: 3/10 (14 January 2016)

Like everyone who's following the awards season, I believed the hype surrounding The Revenant. Therefore I was disappointed watching it, especially trying to find anything award-worthy in Mr. DeCaprio's performance. After all, his dialogue through most of the movie consisted of grunts and whispers (a bear in your throat will do that) and the breadth of emotion, other than the connection to his son, was primarily grimaces of pain.
The scenery and photography were great. How much of it is CGI one cannot tell, though I did learn that locations had to be moved from Canada to South America when the Canadian snow melted, so I suppose there was some "real" ice and snow.
Maybe I didn't pay enough attention, and a second or third viewing would answer some of the questions: Where was the movie supposed to be sited? Western US, or Canada? Who were the various friendly and hostile natives? Who was running the trading post? But sitting through 2.5 hours again? No. Once Glass begins to recover, the denouement is predictable and inevitable, but still an hour away....and who cares?