Lazily Plotted Visual Extravaganza

Rating: 6/10 (8 March 2016)

Alejandro G. Iñárritu's film has Oscar nominations written all over it. The film begins with a bloody conflict between a group of fur trappers and a marauding bunch of native Indians; Emmanuel Lubezki's dazzling photography not only captures its bloodiness but sets it against the washed-out colors of a barren landscape, making us painfully aware of how the elements remain indifferent to human activity. The standards of cinematography are excellent throughout: Lubezki is particularly fond of the lengthy panning shot in which the human characters are depicted as mere specks on landscapes that almost seem to swallow them up.
And then there is the stellar central performance of Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Glass. He does not have many lines, but director Iñárritu concentrates on his sufferings as he quite literally rises from the dead on at least two occasions while trying his best to cope with the exigencies of a harsh winter. There are some memorable moments - for example, when Glass takes the guts out of a dead horse and crawls inside its corpse, thereby creating a cocoon to protect himself against the snow. In another sequence he manages to evade a posse of native Indians by concealing himself against a river bank, and then swimming out towards the rapids. Although buffeted by an apparently inexorable tide, he manages to cling on to some driftwood and thereby ensure his survival. We have to admire the actor's courage as he (or his stunt doubles) subject themselves to a series of almost unendurable tests of physical and mental courage. It is hardly surprising that DiCaprio won the Best Actor Oscar at the 2016 ceremonies.
But lush photography and stellar performances do not necessarily make a great movie. THE REVENANT is 156 minutes long; the plot unfolds at a leisurely (some might say almost a snail's) pace, with plenty of attention given to the central conflict between Glass and his arch-rival Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy). The first half of the movie offers a convincing depiction of the trappers' existence, and how they struggle to survive while trying to make a buck. Unfortunately the second half turns into a rather hackneyed revenge thriller set on an unforgiving landscape. One can't help but remember that classics such as George Stevens's SHANE (1953) told the same story in a much more economical (and dramatically effective) way.
In the end we are left with the feeling that, while THE REVENANT has a historically convincing story to tell, director Iñárritu somehow missed the opportunity to do so.