The Revenant Review

Alejandro G Inarritu, the current holder of the best director Oscar and now it looks like he’s set to win it again this year.  There has been so much in the news about the gruelling process of the making of this film, freezing temperatures, shooting entirely in natural light, climate change making continuity a nightmare, and a CGI bear that had at it with Leonardo Di Caprio. Putting that all to one side however, it has to be judged on its own merits and determine whether this gruelling process has actually led to a good film.

                Set in 1823 Montana, The Revenant focuses on Hugh Glass (Leonardo Di Caprio) a fur trapper who is attacked by a bear leaving him near death. Betrayed by one of his compatriots John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) and left for dead in a shallow grave, Glass goes on an epic survival journey to claim revenge against Fitzgerald. The story sounds simple enough, what elevates the film is Inarritu, his style of using long sweeping takes and making the camera part of the action is extraordinary, in an early attack sequence in the film the violence and fear really come across as men are being picked off by arrows left, right and centre. This year also looks like it’s going to be the third consecutive win for cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki who shot the film using natural light, it may have made the film ten times harder to shoot, but the result is beautiful and deeply engrossing shots that make you feel the cold in your bones.

                Di Caprio also looks certain to pick up the best actor Oscar this year, which is long overdue. His performance as Hugh Glass is a great one, a largely silent character who holds most of the screen time Di Caprio manages to convey so much using just his body, which for most of the film is broken and weather beaten. However, the character of Glass feels like an underdeveloped one, there’s not much to him that is built up over the film, it’s a great performance but the character feels underwritten, if Di Caprio was to win best actor it feels like it should be for a better character. In addition to Di Caprio there are very strong supporting performances, most notably from Oscar nominee Tom Hardy as Fitzgerald, his accent seems like an odd choice for that period but it is consistent and his performance gives off a brilliant tortured and broken vibe to it, even from his earliest moments Fitzgerald feels untrustworthy. In smaller roles there is the excellent Domhnall Gleeson as the captain of their fur trapping expedition who really feels like a genuine leader in amongst the difficult circumstances. Then there is Will Poulter who shows how he has a very promising future ahead of him, in a brutal world with brutal people the innocent nature of his character Jim Bridger feels like a warm and welcome relief.

                                Inarritu has a style that feels very modern and innovative, the start and end of the film are gripping, with moments littered throughout that evoke genuine awe. However Inarritu seems to betray his own sensibilities throughout a large part of the film. A survival story and a revenge story are simple enough, add the innovation and this really could have been something, but the decision to enter into bizarre levels of mysticism with visions and people floating and other people speaking in hushed whispers is really perplexing, those moments feel more at home in a Terrence Malick film than an Inarritu film, and its these tonal and stylistic differences that undermine the overall experience. There is no question that this really is a brilliant technical triumph, that alone however doesn’t make it a brilliant film, it’ll be great in a cinema, though it might not necessarily hold up as well on DVD. (Low 4 Stars)