The Revenant - Movie Review

Rating: 10/10 (11 January 2016)

"My heart bleeds. But revenge is in the creator's hands".
The Revenant is set in the 1820s, in the uncharted wilderness of America, Hugh Glass set out with a hunting party on an expedition. Glass was mauled by a bear and left for dead but through sheer will and to get back to his family, Glass survived - but that wasn't the only thing on his mind as he set out to payback the men who left him behind.
I remember last year around January time when I saw the two images for The Revenant, with Leo holding a Kentucky Flintlock Rifle looking like he's not playing around. Just by those two images caught my interest. I then found out it was directed by the magnificent Alejandro González Iñárritu who did the Oscar wining "Birdman" (A movie that I personal loved). The Revenant quickly became my most anticipated movie of 2015, as I was looking forward to this movie more than Star Wars, and yes I said it. And after finally seeing the movie myself, I can safely say that I was not disappointed. The Revenant is one of the most stunning, brutal, intense, grizzly movie experience I've ever had. The movie isn't for everyone, but I loved it.
Alejandro González Iñárritu is starting to become my 3rd favorite director working today, because he's such an old school director when it comes to storytelling by the use of art. There's been a lot of drama happening behind the scenes of this movie, with the weather stopping the production or if someone made a mistake while filming, the crew must stop for the day and wait until tomorrow, because one mistake could lose a lot of day light for a scene (It was shot in natural lighting). One of the studios suggested that the movie should be shot using computer generated to make things much easier, but luckily Iñárritu said no to the idea by stating, "If we ended up in green screen with coffee and everybody having a good time, everybody will be happy, but most likely the film would be a piece of sh*t." And after seeing the movie I gotta say that it was the perfect decision, because it's very rare for a director today to take that risk and avoid what the studio says. Yes there are some CGI scenes, but the way that the animated effect's blended together with the practical effect's is handled incredibly well. This is one of the best directed I've seen in 2015 and I know Iñárritu already won an Oscar already, but I hope he wins another one for this, because never before have I seen a revenge tale presented so unique and utterly magnificent.
I respect Leonardo DiCaprio as an actor, but in this movie, he sleeps inside of a dead horse naked and eats raw food from animals, now if this doesn't get him an Oscar, nothing will. He's performance in this movie is what a call ''a silent performance'', because Leo barley has that much lines in the movie and the only time he dose get to talk is in a different language (Which Leo has said it was tricky to learn the language). DiCaprio has proved time and time again that he's more than the pretty face actor, but in this movie I only saw Hugh Glass, not DiCaprio. That's my biggest praise I have to give to Leo as he had to deliver all the emotions, the pain, the tortured soul that Hugh Glass was and it's all through his face and eyes, and trust me when I say this but it's not easy as you think. We are so use to seeing Leo as the angry, pretty boy billionaire in every movie he's in, but in this movie I thought he was fantastic, as he played the man who lost everything and the tortured soul that Hugh was as a person was. With very little lines he had, he still manages to make a powerful performance that's so far his best. I really hope Leo gets an Oscar for this.
Tom Hardy also gave an Oscar worthy performance in this movie. I've heard that some people had trouble understanding him in this movie (Or just in everything that he's in really). Sometimes I didn't understand what he said but most of the time I did. But all that a side, I still think he was fantastic in the movie. He really added a lot to his character, because sometimes you understand the things that he dose in movie and yes the things he dose in the movie are wrong, but in a rough environment that these people are in, you would likely do the same. I'm not sure if he would get in for best supporting actor, but I hope he dose.
I'm running out of things to say about Emmanuel Lubezki breathtaking cinematography. The camera work and how he makes the camera feel like a character of it's own is seriously impressive. Lubezki captures nature on film, that shows it's beauty and it's unpredictable surprises. The people running the Oscars should just give Lubezki his third Oscar right now, because he's going to take that third trophy home.
Now for the flaws and there's not that many for me: Some of the character logic towards the end of the movie didn't make that much senses to me, and that's really it.
Overall The Revenant is one of most intense, stunning, brutal movies I've seen in 2015. The score is haunting, the editing was top notch and that bear attack scene was just terrifying, I mean how the hell did they do that?. I don't know about you, but I honestly can't stop thinking about this movie. It's one of those movies that sticks with you after it's over and it isn't going away anytime soon.