Mexican film director Alejandro G. Inarritu garnered a lot of attention with his 2014 Oscar winner Birdman, and has not taken long to craft a wholly different type of movie with The Revenant. The film, based on the novel of the same name which was in turn inspired by true events, boasts two of Hollywood's biggest actors, some impressive filmmaking techniques, and a harsh, gritty story that has recently received several Oscar nominations. The film's still received a decent amount of negative reviews, though, and as a result, I walked into it hoping for the best, but with no idea what I'd think.
Now that I've seen the movie and let it sink in for a few days, I can say that I definitely enjoyed it overall. There are certainly aspects that I think could have been handled better or expanded on, but the movie still managed to never have a spot that didn't work for me. It doesn't strive to be as witty as Birdman or to barrage you with constant action (Though when it does, it delivers), but it's still shot, performed, and paced in a way that makes it consistently engaging.
The story takes place in the Louisiana wilderness during the winter of 1823, and primarily focuses on Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio), part of a group of hunters for hire trying to gather and eventually sell animal pelts. Tagging along is Hawk (Forrest Goodluck), his half-Native American son who he is close with. Shortly after being forced to make an impromptu flee when a group of local Natives ambush their camp, Glass attempts to provide the remaining men directions back to their outpost, but is savagely attacked by a grizzly bear while alone, resulting in wounds so severe he can neither walk nor talk.
The group attempts to continue their journey with Glass in a stretcher, but it becomes obvious that keeping him mobile is slowing them down in a dangerous area. Eventually, Hawk, the young Jim Bridger (Will Poulter), and the hotheaded hunter John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) agree to stay behind and protect Glass for increased pay. As it soon turns out, Fitzgerald has his own plans, and a series of events leads to Glass being betrayed and left for dead, with Fitzgerald and Poulter heading back claiming that he died while in their care.
Glass eventually forces himself to move and do his best to both recover and survive, and while the film still shows us what the rest of the group and even the natives are dealing with, the majority of the story revolves around Glass figuring out ways to traverse the wilderness and fend for himself in an effort to get back to his base and exact revenge.
It's interesting that this is the film that people are wanting DiCaprio to finally get an Oscar for, because outside of the first and last half hours, he actually says very little. The movie feels like it relies more on his body language and the world around him than anything else, which may surprise some. Thankfully, the world presented here is as beautiful as it is dangerous. Inarritu both shot on location and made use of natural lighting, which must have been a nightmare to do, but pays off with a world that feels very real (Outside of animals, as the bear and a few other creatures are done via surprisingly subpar CG).
It certainly feels like more of a gritty survivalist tale than a character study, too. Even when he speaks, Glass has no truly memorable characteristics, and while Hardy acts as well as you'd expect, Fitzgerald feels like someone who's perpetually nasty and little else. And yet I still found myself engaged from beginning to end, something that even great movies can't always do for me. I'll admit that the film doesn't have any moments that stand out to me as true highlights, but it also lacks moments I disliked. It's simply good in a consistent and steady manner.
The movie has some more outlandish moments when we get inside Glass's head to see some dreams and visions, but they're either too short or too straightforward to really take you out of the movie, something I thought Shutter Island, another DiCaprio flick, was very guilty of when it took the same approach. I will admit that the very end of the film unfortunately feels a little vague even after the main conflict is wrapped up, though.
The Revenant is one of those films that, despite getting a wide release, feels like a project the director wanted to do rather than one to appease mass audiences and executives. This approach doesn't always work for me, but it generally paid off here. The best way to sum it up is that it's ultimately less of a film that you watch and more one that you experience, and I'd definitely recommend seeing it in a theater for the atmosphere alone. This certainly makes it a film that's not for everybody, but it's one that I enjoyed, and I think those who are the right audience will find a lot to like here.
Final score: A high 7 out of 10
