Not the Last of the Mohicans

Rating: 7/10 (21 January 2016)

There's a big Oscar buzz about this movie, which may have as much to do with it having been a gruelling location shoot as to do with the performances. Yes, DiCaprio is in terrific form, but so is Tom Hardy as the nastiest of the trappers, all of whom communicate mostly in grunts and mumbles. This film has the least intelligible dialogue since BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN.
The real stars are the director and cinematographer. The landscape plays the kind of dominating role that it always did in a David Lean movie. Alejandro Inarritu is perhaps Lean's true heir. And the film is beautifully scored. Soaring music and lingering snowscapes: pure David Lean. Glass's visions of his murdered native American wife (and son) provide poignant moments and provide a welcome contrast to the violent scenes which have the full-on shock of a body-horror flick.
For me the story is told a little (maybe a lot) too slowly, making this a beautiful, yes, but, oh dear, a very long movie (2 hours 36). There have been quite a few 'Survival' pictures over the years (DELIVERANCE, CAST AWAY, etc. etc.) and now we see Survival documentaries on TV all the time. The movie I found myself comparing this to was THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, which had many of the same elements - frontiersmen, 'friendly' as well as hostile Indians, battles against the French - together with an epic love-story, great music and great photography. What THE REVENANT crucially lacks is pace (and clear diction).