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The Revenant
| Released |
15 January 2016 |
| Director |
Alejandro Inárritu |
Starring
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Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter, Forrest Goodluck, Paul Anderson, Kristoffer Joner, Joshua Burge |
Writer(s)
|
Mark L. Smith, Alejandro Inárritu |
Producer(s)
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Steve Golin, Alejandro Inárritu, David Kanter, Arnon Milchan, Mary Parent, Keith Redmon, James W. Skotchdopole |
| Origin |
United States |
| Running Time |
156 minutes |
| Genre |
Adventure, drama, thriller, western |
| Rating |
16 |
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The wild frontier.
You know you’re having a bad day when being treated like a human chew toy by a grizzly bear isn’t the worst thing to happen to you. So it is for Leonardo DiCaprio’s emotionally haunted frontier scout Hugh Glass in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s astonishing The Revenant – a film of such intensity that it leaves one feeling as bludgeoned and bruised as its characters.
The film takes place in the snowy wilds of the American frontier in the 1820s. A group of men, led by Captain Henry (Domhnall Gleeson) are on a hunting expedition when their group is attacked by a band of Native American warriors. Their numbers are seriously diminished by the attack and the remaining men attempt to head back to camp led by their scout Glass (DiCaprio). When Glass is attacked by a bear, he is left for dead by the treacherous Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy). Fighting against his injuries and the unrelentingly harsh climate, Glass manages to cling onto life and sets out for vengeance.
From the opening scenes of The Revenant, it was hard to tear my eyes away from the screen. Both cast and director attack the material like men possessed, trailing spit and blood behind them. The vibrant, kinetic flow of Birdman that marked Inarritu as a director to watch, bursts out of the self-consciousness of that film and finds its full realisation amongst the snowy wastes and brutality of life on the frontier. Emmanuel Lubezki’s cinematography by turns swoops over the landscape before zooming in close enough to see the frost on DiCaprio’s whiskers.
DiCaprio’s committed, visceral performance is absorbing– even given the fact that for most of the film he is unable to make a sound, save for the occasional rasped word and gurgles of pain and frustration. I would also award honourable mentions to Gleeson and Will Poulter; both excellent. Letting the side down a little is Tom Hardy, who yet again slips into his old habit of enigmatic mumbling. Still, he makes for an effective villain and the confrontation between the two leads is electric when it happens.
It’s hard to see another film taking the Best Picture and Best Director awards from The Revenant this year. Its ferocity marks it out as a genuinely striking and memorable piece of filmmaking.
- Linda O’Brien |
