Brilliant Directing Made a Bad Script Bearable

Rating: 1/10 (14 March 2016)

Spoilers Galore, consider yourself warned! When I saw Birdman, also written and directed by Inarritu, I thought it was great. It was a stylish and interesting movie experience. However, I was left feeling something was missing, which prevented it from entering "favorite" status, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. After seeing the Revenant, I realized what Inarritu lacks. His direction, while skillful, is cold. Emotion, which in Birdman isn't needed to carry the script, is missing here and it hurts the story.
First, the movie could have been edited down by a half to a full hour. The scenery is beautiful but does every shot need to linger so long? The story is about revenge and survival. However, I found the whole script to be dull and lacking. The conversations are bland and if not for Inarritu's skill as a director, the movie would be unwatchable, unbearable even.
Hugh Glass, DiCaprio, is the main character and the guide to a fur trapping expedition. His Native American wife was murdered years before and he was left alone to care for their son. His son, now a teenager, is on the fur expedition with him. The expedition is lead by Captain Henry, Gleeson, and the villain John, Hardy, is also a member of the party. John opposes almost all of Glass's decisions at every turn.
When we meet the expedition, they are quickly descended upon by a group of Native Americans. The scene is brutal but well directed The struggle to survive is well captured but the scene goes on a bit long. We later learn the Native Americans are looking for the Chief's daughter, Powaqa, who has been kidnapped. My issue is the Native Americans just start shooting with no questions asked at all "English" men because the French, who actually have the girl, told them that's who took her. They aren't even worried that she might be accidentally killed in the fray. I get it, Inarritu wants this world to be as merciless as possible but sometimes it went beyond reason.
Some of the members of the expedition manage to survive the attack. Glass comes up with a new path to avoid another attack and return to their fort. But, Glass is viciously attacked by a bear in one of the most skillfully directed scenes possibly ever. Glass 's condition is dire but he clings to life. As they continue on their difficult return course, it becomes apparent they won't be able to carry the injured Glass up the mountain. At first, the leader, Captain Henry, debates putting Glass out of his misery. In an unforgiving land, Capt. Henry is more sentimental and takes a more noble path and offers money to those willing to stay with Glass until he passes. John, Bridger - a nice young man - and Glass's son, Hawk, stay.
John has always felt that they should euthanize Glass. So, when the two young men are gone, he offers Glass a mercy death. Glass eventually agrees. Hawk comes upon John while he is doing the deed and freaks out. In the scuffle, John kills Hawk as Glass lays helpless watching. You already dislike John but there really isn't enough character development for you to feel completely devastated by Hawk's death.... and that's a major problem in a revenge story. Plus, it took an hour to get to this point - an hour to establish the setup and it still lacked the necessary emotional punch. By the time any chance of revenge comes, you feel just as worn out as Glass and it doesn't really matter any more - which in some ways was the point of the movie even if it failed to fully realize that..
Moving on. John makes it back to the fort with Bridger who is ignorant to everything. And, for the next hour or more, we watch Glass miraculously survive through some impossible situations like falling off a cliff. Glass meets another man whose family has also been killed but he decided to leave revenge in God's hands. Finally, Glass is found by the those at the Fort. At this point, you're not sure who has been more tortured, Glass or you, the viewer.
When they return, John has taken all of the money from the safe, we don't know how he managed this, and ran off. Here comes some unbelievable aspects, Glass and Henry decide to go after John alone. Two men, that's it? This is to setup 2 aspects of the forced ending: 1) Glass can pretend to be dead on the horse for a cool scene. 2) Glass can let go of his revenge. Except, after a lengthy savage duel, Glass has his chance to fulfill his revenge but his companion's words echo in his head to leave it to God. So, he does by letting him drift down the river... which would be a good ending if that left John with Glass's fate – injured and lost in the wilderness with nothing but it's not. Glass had previously saved Powaqa and those same Native Americans are coincidentally 60 feet down river. John floats to them and they kill him. Is that really leaving it to God's hands? Or letting someone else do the dirty deed as you watch? How about more simply, Captain Henry gathers a group of men to catch John, he has to abandon his belongings including the money to run away. As they risk more perils, Glass sees the futility and talks Capt. Henry into standing down, to leave it to God.
Other notes, Hardy is a good actor but here he sounded like he had a huge wad of cotton stuck in his mouth . Inarritu deserved the best directing Oscar despite how bad the movie was. Lastly, there a bunch of dream sequences that involved Glass's wife that I felt added little to the story. DiCaprio's Oscar is well deserved.