Film Review - The Revenant

Photo by Kimberlely French

The subtlety of the last frame embraces the catharsis and ultimate meaning of The Revenant, the newest film from Oscar winning director Alejandro Iñárritu, defining rebirth through endeavor. Leonardo DiCaprio is likewise Oscar worthy in his subtle intensity and extreme realism, perhaps a bit too real. 

The movie’s only flaw, subjectively speaking, is in a lack of hyperbolic emotion. As well does it feel too reserved in the face of a simple predictable story albeit shot and directed with magnificent due diligence and beauty. Not since Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan has the brutality of violent action been so real. The Revenant is an extremely thrilling entertaining relentless journey into the harrowing struggle of a man attacked by a grizzly bear during the harsh uncharted wilderness of the early 1800s. 

The sublime dream sequences and minimalist dialogue offer a glimpse into the heart of honor and spiritual awakening. In this respect the Revenant is a timeless classic. 

Tom Hardy like DiCaprio both deserve high praise as do the rest of cast including Will Poulter, Domhnall Gleeson, Forrest Goodluck all giving strong performances with Poulter perhaps standing out most among the supporting cast, unlike the rest letting more sensational emotion out from his character while facing death. While Tom Hardy captures the range of his antagonist with an uncanny proficiency that should gain him an Oscar nomination along with DiCaprio’s likewise hyperrealism, Poulter poured it on much thicker adding much needed bits of bacon the kosher Revenant is missing. 

Despite this overindulging ultra-realism the Revenant should earn an Oscar for best picture but it was not as great nor as important an offering as The Big Short or even Ex Machina, both films taking on much more purposeful substance letting its passions overflow into our souls; Iñárritu seeks in earnest to contain.