4/5
Rarely does a film with so much hype live up, thankfully The Revenant does just that. The film is at heart a revenge story, it may not go much deeper than this in terms of plot but top class cinematography (Emmanuel Lubezki's previous work with Terrence Malick certainly helped here), four strong performances (Hardy and DiCaprio especially) and solid direction make this a must see. The landscape of Canada and Argentina is filmed in all its brutal beauty. Long shots of snow battered forest, dreamlike imagery of fires fighting off the cold, flashes of blood and violence. Much has been made of the grueling shoot but I am sure that once everyone involved sees the first Indian attack scene, they will agree that it was all worth it. It could be argued that the wilderness is the true antagonist of the film but Tom Hardy's Fitzgerald gives it a run for it's money. He is urgent, angry and stubborn, driving the plot along. Alejandro G. Iñárritu has stated in lots of interviews that he looks for what is behind the actors eyes and he certainly found something in Hardy.
The same goes for DiCaprio. Chasing that illusive Oscar for best actor, he throws himself completely into the role of Hugh Glass. He is Glass. Unflinching, personal and emotional, DiCaprio acts the majority of the film without a line of dialogue. Yet we are right there with him, when he is tense, we are tense, when he is in pain (this is a lot) we feel his pain. If this doesn't do enough to win, I am not sure what will.
I will end this review on one last point:
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