One of the finest survival films in recent history

Rating: 6/10 (13 January 2016)

After winning 3 major Oscars last year, it did not take writer and director Alejandro González Iñárritu long to come up with his next work that garners major awards attention. Recently, he won Best Drama Movie and Best Director at the Golden Globes for "The Revenant". Also it looks like this is finally the movie that gives Leonardo DiCaprio his first Academy Award. It is a pretty long film, runs for over 150 minutes and takes place in snowy America. The first parts of the film show us a group of fur traders. When the central character is attacked by a bear, they decide to leave him back and the film is basically split into two different parts: Glass' fight for survival and what the other gang members are doing at the same time. These include Tom Hardy's character, the main antagonist. I found him interesting to watch too. It becomes obvious how he is not only ruthless and greedy, but also how he is somewhat of an outsider in the group with the other people mostly admiring Glass for his perseverance. Also the scene when the young guy threatens him with his gun is pretty memorable. After Fitzgerald realizes the gun won't fire and it was never his intention to kill him, he lets him live too. A multi-layered character. Not just pure evil.
Lets take a look at DiCaprio now. It is basically a 100% physical performance, almost non-verbal. He speaks only very few words in this film, occasionally in Indian language. His scene with the bear mauling him is certainly among the most memorable of the cinema year 2015. Very tough to watch, yet it's equally difficult to look away. His scenes with his Indian pal or the Native American references in this film could have been better in my opinion and did not really make an emotional impact on me. Nonetheless, the people behind this film succeeded with the really difficult task of making a film this long that does not (or almost never) drag at all. It is also one of these films that you should really watch on the big screen if you have the opportunity. The cold, bare, mean snowy landscapes make this very atmospheric. Will Emmanuel Lubezki win a third Oscar in a row for his work here? It certainly seems a possibility right now. Even if I would not rank this movie among the very best of 2015 for me, it was still a thrilling watch for the most part and DiCaprio's performance alone makes it worth the watch. Also always nice to see Domhnall Gleeson play a good guy like he does in here. I like him as an actor. Back to Leo, the last shot on his face was truly memorable when we see him look right at the camera. Very very haunting. Go check it out.