The acting saves the film

Rating: 7/10 (15 October 2016)

This film is about a fur trapping party gone wrong after being attacked by Native Americans and their guide being mauled by a bear, double crossed by a comrade and left for dead. The acting in this film is top level by design. Even Tom Hardy gives a great performance. I usually can not stand Tom Hardy, thanks to some of his previous works like Mad Max Fury Road and TDKR, but he is exceptional in here. Leo does a remarkable job but that is nothing new. The basic story and limited dialogue work well and matched the encompassing project. However the over-stylized environment killed the cinematography. The director had no discipline when playing around with camera filters and throwing in background CGI when editing landscape shots. It simply cheapens the film. My second complaint is terrible and inconsistent make-up. I'll have to blame the director again because he wasn't able to see that all of the actors, especially in the first half on the film look too damn clean. Just putting dust in someone's hair and smearing oil on their face isn't going to do it when it comes to a Hollywood level production. The little stuff matters. Final score 7/10, this film was saved by the actors in-spite of the director's laziness and/or blundering.