As long as you still can still grab a breath, you fight......

Rating: 9/10 (24 December 2015)

While exploring the uncharted wilderness in the 1800s, Hugh Glass sustains injuries from a brutal bear attack.
When his hunting team kills his son and leave him for dead, Glass must utilise his survival skills to find a way back home.
Grief-stricken and fuelled by vengeance, Glass treks through the wintry terrain to track down John Fitzgerald, the former confidant who betrayed and abandoned him........
Like some bizarre hybrid of Quest For Fire, Come And See, First Blood, and Gladiator, The Revenant may be durationaly draining, but thanks to some truly breathtaking camera-work and long shots, it's easily one of the most tense and exciting movies of the year.
To say the film is grim is an understatement, you an almost feel the elements that the characters have to contend with through their quests, and although the film is brutally realistic and harsh at times, it has an almost magical, mystical element to it, as if we are seeing the film through Glasses weary, anguished, angry, near death eyes.
Iñárritu proves once again that he is an amazing film maker, with an amazing attention to detail, and even though Birdman wasn't as brilliant as it thought it was, it's gimmick of appearing to have only one take, was a pretty phenomenal feat.
Light on dialogue, but heavy on the visceral, there are two key scenes that make Glasses journey all the more determined. The bear attack, isn't only a brutal five minutes, only usurped by Bone Tomahawks death scene for most brutal scenes of the year, it's almost flawless with its use of effects, and the fact that it looks like its a one shot take, just adds to the awe.
Secondly, Glass laying helpless, knowing that he will eventually blink, and then seeing Fitzgerald commit the most abhorrent act, Dicaprios acting here is flawless, and if he does win an award for this role, it will be for this scene alone. Never before have I seen anger, despair, guilt, hatred, and helplessness, perfectly acted without the actor uttering one syllable.
Hardy too is excellent, but it wished he would have left his Bane Accent at home, it rally did take me away from key scenes.
It's an unflinching movie, long shots really putting you in the middle of the film, and if this doesn't win every award going for cinematography, there is something wrong with the world.
An achievement, and then some.