The Never Ending Movie

Rating: 5/10 (21 April 2016)

I finally got around to watching "The Revenant" last evening. It won three Oscars (total) for best actor (DiCaprio); best director; and best cinematography. Anyone who watches it should win an award for perseverance.
The story is about a man and his son, both fur trappers, who get caught in the middle of all sorts of savagery. Their hunting party is attacked by Indians and most of their men are killed. After trying to come to some sort of plan, the remaining parties set on for a nearby fort. DiCaprio's character goes off on his own (to hunt, I suppose) and is savagely mauled by a grizzly bear. He is then left for dead by his own hunting party, and the remainder of the film has him searching for the person responsible for killing his son, a fellow hunter named John Fitzgerald, played superbly by Tom Hardy.
First of all, I was not impressed all that much by this film. I do not understand the rave reviews it got, and am even more turned off by the tales of its over-bearing director. Rumor has it that Tom Hardy choked his ass out!! But I digress. I am glad DiCaprio won the Oscar, but anyone who knows his work knows he should have won for other roles.
I had a huge problem with the ending. The viewer has to sit through almost three hours of watching a man savaged by animals, other men, and the elements, with the only thing keeping him alive--his revenge on the guy who murdered his son. Yet, the ending seemed so contrived to me that it was as though the director said, "Okay; I've had it with this project. Time to go home." Either that or it's akin to having sex for better than two and half hours with absolutely no pay off.
Rated "R" for graphic violence, rape, castration, and nudity.