Inarritu brings captivating story and spectacular spectacle with his best film to date

Rating: 9/10 (8 January 2016)

Alejandro G. Inarritu's The Revenant is a 19th century western drama that brings the most gritty, realistic, and brutal take I've seen. The Revenant follows Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) as he battles the elements and native inhabiter's to avenge a loss committed by nemesis John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy). The Revenant pushes the limits of cinematography and tells one of, if not the most gripping film of the year.
Emmanuel Lubezki created a lived in and natural world. I saw the beautifully shot scenic scenes and the first-person like tracking shots, but more importantly I could FEEL them. An edge will grip any viewer and with environmental shots alone i felt genuinely frightened of this unknown wilderness. The bright orange sparks from fires, the dark blue skies, and the black trees that laid on top of the bare white ground were real, they were unforgiving and beautiful.
Leonardo DiCaprio gives in my opinion, the best performance of his career. For the first time i wasn't watching DiCaprio, I wasn't watching a man with a malice heart, I was joining Hugh Glass on his vicious struggle for revenge. Tom Hardy has been a busy man but he seemingly cannot stop giving great performances with rather rare dialogue. Hardy becomes his best villain (thats saying something especially for Hardy). Hardy delivers a character we hate from the very beginning giving a untrustworthy, selfish, and genuinely dirty man life. Domhnall Gleeson (Andrew Henry) and Will Poulter (Bridger) both give great performances. Poulter breaks out of his typical comedic acting to give a surprising but magnificent performance, one of the best young actors today.
Although the film was inducing and beautiful its script at sometimes fell flat for me. Dialogue at times felt out of its time and a bit too staged but this problem is overlaid by terrific acting, cinematography, and camera direction. Birdman's mind-blowing continuing long-takes are very present in this film creating the most edgy and again realistic scenes I've seen in film. The Revenant has everything Inarritu did perfectly in Birdman and corrected mistakes made in previous films. This film is entrancing but artistic film lovers will fall in love with this film like they did with all of Inarritu's past work. The Revenant pushes every single aspect and limit in filmmaking while delivering a totally unique experience because of this, The Revenant is a excellent film.