One of the greatest films of all time

Rating: 10/10 (27 January 2016)

And I do not say that lightly.
This film was a triumph of the art and craft that is filmmaking. Its epic landscapes, wondrously and heartbreakingly captured by Lubezki, are the first thing that makes this film stand out. The environment in which Glass' story takes place is brought to life in a way which few films are able to achieve. You feel Glass' sense of familiarity and awe with what he is surrounded by. An untamed land filled with fauna and flora of various description. That the film is able to bristle with life and natural resonance in such a way is the main aspect which sets this experience apart and places it among the pantheon of superlative cinema.
The story, deceptively simple, is actually a story which reaches back to the epic storytelling traditions of timeless Homerian and Shakespearian classics. Glass is on his own personal odyssey of revenge. Like King Lear, he is cast amongst the wilderness, it is up to him to survive. He is also challenged to keep hold of his humanity amidst the loss he has suffered at the hands of cruel, barbaric self-interest. Hardy is the Iago of the piece, a man consumed with malignant malevolence, seemingly compelled to cause misery and suffering to those around him, no doubt a mirroring of his own tortured soul. The film has brief, precious moments of gallantry, generosity and understanding, but they occur among a sea of brutality, both human and otherwise. The film's protagonist, like Josey Wales and Ethan Edwards, is cast into a twilight existence, a purgatory of sorts between life and death. He must find an inspiration which reaches deeper than his hate in order to find salvation.
In this way Glass' journey mirrors our own. In order to find value in our lives we must be driven by what we wish to become, not what we wish to destroy. This story gives us this journey and this challenge and it does so in the richest, most effective manner I have experienced in a long time. It strips away our apparent civilisation and takes us back fundamentally to our most primal routes.
Iñárritu serves up a treat here; a spectacle with heart and life. His direction is focused and fearless. He shows us the essence of who we are without the need for distortion or equivocation. His story is so firmly allied to what it is to be human that in its purity it ascends to the highest peaks of cinematic achievement.