One of the most beautiful films I've ever seen

Rating: 10/10 (5 May 2016)

I was overall thrilled by this movie. I loved the premise and for the most part, the way they structured it. I thought the performances were all earnest and believable. I never really found anyone to be inadvertently calling attention to their performances nor under-performing. Tom Hardy and Domhnall Gleeson especially stood out to me despite Hardy's usual over-mumbles in the beginning. Here it's more appropriate than anything he's done before, so I won't discount him for that.
The cinematography was, as you'd expect, stunning. I loved almost every shot. Every time I would see an opportunity to do something cool with the camera, I'd be delighted to see them do exactly that, or more often than not, surprise me with something much cooler than I could have thought of. I felt that they weren't quite able to make some of the longer sequences as seamless as in Birdman, but I was never especially bothered by it - just thought it noteworthy.
Beyond the technical wizardry behind the awesome cinematography, I loved how purposeful everything was in juxtaposing the unrelenting consistency of nature against the seemingly important struggles of a few men. While clearly the Alexa 65 and Lubezki's committal to natural light yielded some wonderful colors within his extremely precise frames, I think as usual he excelled most with movement - both of the camera and the subjects within the shot. Everything has purpose and heightens the emotions of the moment. The opening sequence was my favorite part in terms of how it was shot. It may have been a tad flashy, but it worked for me.
The action was dope.
The CGI bear was dope.
The pacing was effective for me. The first act just thrusts you into their world and all of its chaos, whereas the middle of the film is quite drawn out and moves slowly, despite its incessant tension. The third act felt a little inconsistent, perhaps just as a result of the exhausting preceding events...but only just so.
On to my problems with The Revenant. I thought the editing was at a few moments just a little too pushy; specifically, the long holds on nearby nature at the end of many sequences. I think some of them overstayed their welcome by a second or two, and maybe they could have pulled out one. That's a nitpick, though, and I might change my mind upon second viewing.
Hugh Glass. Like many others have stated, his character is a bit underdeveloped, as is his relationship with his son. I was actually surprised at how late in the movie his son was killed - a pleasant surprise, at that, as I really did feel for their relationship despite their minimal dialogue. I do wish the trailer had omitted that plot point, as it would have been interesting to see as a surprise instead of dreading it for the first hour. This is also a rather minor qualm.
The expression of Glass's hunger for revenge just didn't seem quite there for me throughout his struggles to survive. This makes sense, as it works with his focus on surviving since that is what matters in the moment. However, I just didn't quite feel that he was motivated by revenge to survive. Sure, he wrote "Fitzgerald killed my son" a few times when he thought he might die, but I never saw that emotion in his performance, the camera-work, or much else.
Like many others, my biggest problem with this film is its attempts to reach for something surreal and metaphorical in a very direct, hamfisted manner. I'm referring, of course, to the dream sequences of Glass's wife and son, and the melodramatic manner in which they're delivered.
This entire sequence is redundant and out of place in a film that already says so much through more subtle imagery. Everything that is conveyed through these dreams could have illustrated through editing and camera-work - and it largely is, making this even more disappointing. These sequences don't bring anything good to the film, and they are even used to wrap up the conclusion, when in reality the focus of his struggle was regarding his son and himself. His wife didn't need to be excluded entirely, but she should not have been this strange motif boasting references to films like The Holy Mountain.
Most of this film's elements seemed to ride the border of trying too hard to create a masterpiece, yet they push just far enough to wow audiences in the right way. Unfortunately, the random absurdity included here disrupts that by wow-ing audiences in the wrong way.
Overall, I'd probably give this a 9.4/10. It's one of my favorites of the year and I had a blast watching it. I understand its mixed reviews, but I'm not bothered much by it's few flaws. For me, it lived up to the hype."