An epic, a masterpiece, a movie that stays with you

Rating: 10/10 (27 March 2016)

The movie begins and in a moment it surrounds you instantly. Every scene grips you, grips your emotions and you never look away, you can never look away.
The scenes are brutal, they are confronting, they are intense and they are raw with bleeding reality. The scenes pull you in, you become a part of the scene and a part of the intensity. The cinematography is stunning. Absolutely stunning. There are many a time when you admire and are in sheer awe of the scenery and photography. But the brutality comes again, the intensity comes again, the confrontational rawness comes again. It's exhausting; it leaves you tired but wondering what will come next.At the end you feel a satisfactory exhaustion but a tiredness nonetheless. A movie I will watch again definitely, but not in the near future.
The acting is supreme and without flaw. Leonardo shines. He takes his character and becomes exactly that. Every part of his struggle is felt, his tears are shed, his triumph repeated; truly a master class performance. Tom Hardy should get a mention; he is unrecognizable in a good way. He plays every part of the deception he is relied upon; a hated character but a true accomplishment.
All in all, how does one sum up this movie. In a sentence you can't. In a movie review you can't. The only way is to watch it. You need to experience it. Most things in life worth describing need to be experienced.....