Wonderfully directed by last year’s Best Director and incredibly acted by Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant is the Golden Globe winner for Best Film – Drama. See it if you can stomach it.
The Revenant (Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson) – A warning that will probably mean at least half of you will not see this movie: Beware, this movie is unabashedly brutal, graphic, and gross. If you don’t like movies where a man is mauled by a bear; where a horse is gutted so the man can stay warm in a blizzard; or where there are bloody battle scenes, The Revenant is not for you.
But if you want to see a raw, intense, amazing performance, The Revenant is for you. The two are mutually exclusive. Leo DiCaprio is beyond exceptional as a frontiersman leading an expedition of fur traders in the 1820s. Fur is the treasure that the local hunters, the French fur traders, and the Native Americans all want. In many ways, this is a cowboys vs. Indians movie at a time when you didn’t have to be politically correct. The Indians are vicious and the hunters are greedy.
DiCaprio’s character, Hugh Glass, and his son, guide the expedition through the mountains in search of skins. It doesn’t take long for the 40+-man unit to be attacked by Indians and trimmed to just 10. The leader of the expedition, Captain Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson, son of well-known actor Brendan Gleeson) decides to go back to the fort rather than continue their search for game, much to the chagrin of John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy), an outspoken member of his team. While out scouting the route back, Glass gets pummeled by a grizzly bear in a long scene that will have you squirming in your chair or covering your eyes. Somehow, he survives but not before his son is killed. He then starts his painful, arduous, implausible journey to catch the killer and get back to safety. What follows is a ton of blood and (literally) guts, hurdles to overcome, and obstacles to elude.
Director Alejandro Iñárritu, winner of last year’s Best Director, Best Writer, and Best Film for Birdman, might do it again. As subtle and deft as he was in Birdman, that is how raw and big he helms this film. This man is an artist and a craftsman. The story is compelling, and the search for retribution and redemption is unrelenting. The word revenant means a person who returns, particularly from the dead, and that is precisely what Glass does. At times, there is little dialogue but Leo and Alejandro combine to transfix the audience throughout.
For the viewer, this is not a film to enjoy. It is a movie to endure. Glass shows endurance and incredible determination. So must the audience. Don’t buy a ticket unless you are ready for that journey. If you go … and endure … you will be overwhelmed by the scope of the film, the range of its lead actor, and the brashness of the violence depicted on screen.
In some ways, The Revenant is a shock flick. It is a survivalist film but the opposite of Cast Away. Tom Hanks talks to a volleyball in his quest to stay sane as he desperately tries to find a way home. Leo DiCaprio hears his dead wife’s voice as he seeks a way back to avenge his son’s death. Both find hope amidst hopelessness. One is subtle; the other is in your face.
If this intrigues you, you must see The Revenant. If it doesn’t, don’t bother to go. You won’t get to see a great movie but you won’t feel cheated either.