'The Revenant' A Review

The Revenant is a biographical western based on the life of frontier trapper Hugh Glass(Leonardo DiCaprio). The year is 1823 and a group of hunters and trappers, under the leadership of Captain Henry(Domhnall Gleeson) the representative for the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, are in the Native American occupied wilderness amassing animal pelts. At the beginning of the film the group is attacked by a faction of the Arikara tribe and only a fraction of the men escape in a boat. Glass the appointed scout of the expedition advises the safest way out of the hostile territories is a long journey on land. One of the trappers John Fitzgerald(Tom Hardy) is against this idea and becomes increasingly more recalcitrant and antagonistic as the journey progresses. Matters are complicated when Glass is left immobile after a bear attack.

In the titular role DiCaprio gives a great if somewhat narrow performance. The physical demands he meets and exceeds however the film does not call for a lot of emotional depth or dimension. He portrays the single-minded determination of the character with compelling tenacity but there is no real sense of his internal workings. His eating raw bison liver and submerging himself in freezing water is impressive, these feats may be difficult, they are not unique to Dicaprio. Any actor could physically do the same action and have the same result. By comparison Hardy gives the significantly more interesting performance. Complex, layered, and energetic. We can infer a lot about him and his past, he is the antagonist but he is not a clear cut villain. We can follow the logic of his actions, the compromises, the desires. Ultimately Hardy and his character are more complete, more human, than the wraith like portrayal of DiCaprio.

Visually the film is almost without peer. Gorgeous landscapes, breath-taking natural lighting, an incredible use of depth and scope, evocative imagery, on and on. The major flaw in the film is its ending. After a spectacular journey the conclusion is muddled, it is unclear what the intention behind it is, what, if anything, is the point. It's a stumble rather than a confident finish.

Transportive imagery, a phenomenal journey with gripping performances, an ellipses of an ending.

See It.