No Oscar for DiCaprio

Rating: 5/10 (3 January 2016)

After viewing this movie, one realizes this film will be remembered more for one harrowing scene (the well-known Grizzly Bear attack) and the way it was made, rather than for the quality of the story or filmic experience itself.
DiCaprio, as Hugh Glass, does an adequate job, although 2/3's of his acting involves emoting-through-wheezing. For that alone, almost any competent actor with a range greater than Adam Sandler could have done the part. We get brief glimpses of interesting characters (Domhnall Gleason's Army Lieutenant for one) and way too many scenes of a one- dimensional antagonist, Tom Hardy's Fitzgerald. And the film could have been 20 minutes shorter by eliminating long, meditative (or creatively masturbatory) shots of trees.
Already dining out on the "we shot in only natural light! Shot over nine months in the miserably cold outdoors," the film-makers seem unaware that a difficult production with good actors does not necessarily a great movie make. Just ask the folks who made (or un-made, depending on who you ask) "The Island of Dr. Moreau." Tough shoot...apparently a terrible movie.
"The Revenant" isn't terrible, but it's nowhere near great.