One of the year's very best; Leo & Hardy deserve Oscars in this epic tale of ultimate vengeance

Rating: 10/10 (2 January 2016)

THE REVENANT (2015) **** Leonardo Di Caprio, Tom Hardy, Domnhall Gleeson, Will Poulter, Forrest Goodluck, Paul Anderson, Kristoffer Joner, Joshua Burge, Duane Howard, Melaw Nakehk'o, Fabrice Adde, Arthur RedCloud, Christopher Rosamond, Robert Moloney, Lukas Haas, Grace Dove. Filmmaker Alejanrro Gonzalez Inarritu - who co-penned the screenplay with Mark L. Smith based on Michael Punke's novel - continues to prove his mettle as a director to be reckoned with in a truly epic taking of a formidable recognizable western - the vengeance drama. With echoes of THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES, DiCaprio gives blood (literally and should finally score that elusive Academy Award for a tremendous performance) as frontiersman/tracker Hugh Glass whose expedition with a troupe of fur trappers leads into a harrowing survivalist quest at vengeance and redemption when he is brutally attacked by a bear (one of the film's most unsettling moments) only to witness venal Hardy (worthy of an Oscar himself) murder his Native American son (Goodluck) and left for dead himself. With a will to pursue his traitor with enough vigor and forthright to move a mountain, Glass' ascent to revenge is to be slaked by the film's audience as well. Shot with painterly skill by Emmanuel Lubezki, a grand score by extraordinary trifecta Bryce Dessner, Carsten Nicolai and Ryuichi Sakamoto, and vistas to be only dreamed of by production designer Jack Fisk who makes smart skills of using the wintry, pristine outbreak of foreign land feel alien and all too ethereally beautiful and equally haunting. One of the best films of the year and demands to be seen on a ginormous screen!