Ultimately a massive case of style over substance

Rating: 4/10 (19 October 2016)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
In the late part of the 19th century, explorer Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio-no laughing at that name!) is on an expedition for the fur trade in the wilderness when he is savagely attacked by a bear. Whilst the other members of his expedition team are stoic and try to rescue him, John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) decides they should cut their losses and kill him, which he attempts to do when no one is looking, as well as killing his adopted Native American son Hawk (Forrest Goodluck.) After surviving his ordeal, Glass is thrust on a desperate quest for survival-with revenge on his mind.
Director Alejandro G. Inarritu is certainly a hot property at the moment, most notably for 2014's Birdman (Or, the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance.) As befits someone making a name for themselves, he appears to be someone prepared to break away from convention, taking a relatively simple premise and applying a post modern, surrealist touch to it. But whereas Birdman went engagingly off kilter with its material, this appears to be an exercise in self exploration and reflection...without very much at the surface.
In the lead role, and to a large extent the only role, in the film, DiCaprio must carry a sense of isolation and foreboding, in a stranded role similar to that of Sandra Bullock in Gravity or, much further back, Tom Hanks in Cast Away. The problem here is, rather than exploring his individual angst and inner turmoil as he finds the resilience to cope with his ordeal, there's just too much grunting and crawling around, and when you can't relate to one guy for the long time you're with him, there's problems.
For those with a keen interest in visual landscapes, Inarritu has undoubtedly captured some truly beautiful, majestic cinematography that will sweep your eyes onto the screen, even if the story and pacing don't. He's matched this with a dark, moody soundtrack that is as haunting as the screen. The trouble is, the story just seems to be non existent and for a film weighing in at roughly two and a half hours, that's a big problem.
It's all a big case of style over substance, a big, ultimately pretentious piece that badly misfires. **