Ho. Lee. Fuck. This is what was repeating over and over in my brain during and after watching The Revenant. It isn't a movie. It's an experience. And my God, what a gut-wrenching, harrowing, stomach-churning, kick in the balls with a steel toed horse shoe experience it was. After his Oscar winning film Birdman, soon to be household name Alejandro Inarritu took to the frontier to give us something further. It's a fantastic film. It's an exhausting film. And it's a worthwhile film that ABSOLUTELY needs to be watched on the big screen.
There isn't much in the way of a plot description that I can give beyond what the trailers have already shown. Leonardo DiCaprio is frontiersman and navigator Hugh Glass who is attacked by a bear (that scene-- ho. lee. fuck.) He is rescued by his group, but abandoned when the winter's conditions begin to worsen. Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy in a ho. lee. fuck. role) is left behind to care for Glass, but essentially winds up burying him alive, killing Glass's son and leaving Glass for dead. This is when Glass somehow (and this is actually true) survives it all and essentially crawls or hobbles 200 plus miles to exact his oh so sweet revenge.
Let's start with the bear attack. I have not seen something that intense in a film... I'm going to say ever. I'm trying to think back to a moment when I have sat that stiffly in my theater chair in absolute terror and shock of what I was witnessing on screen. And it's not over quickly. It's beautiful how unbelievably horrifying it is. Then, there's Leo doing everything in his power to overcome the attack and seek out Tom Hardy to kill him for killing his son. Watching Leo struggle (or as my lovely girlfriend so eloquently put it-- getting 'put through the ringer') is something I wonder if his own mother had a difficult time watching. The dude, for sure, is going all in on his chips for the Oscar gold in this role. There's no doubt about that. But, the amazing thing is, it didn't hit me until after the movie. There's no long, drawn out Oscar winning moment in the movie that Leo (and us) knew this is what would do it-- it's the entire performance. The shit that he has to do (both fictionally and in real life) to get back to the town is unbelievable and pretty difficult to watch. And Leo does it without hardly ever speaking. He probably utters five lines in English and the other five in the Pawnee Indian language. Give this man the damn gold now!
However, and I feel like I'm repeating myself, because all year I've been talking about how amazing of an actor Tom Hardy is... but Jesus does he play a slimy villain. He's a cretin, but one you love to hate. You keep waiting for the next awful thing to come out of his mouth or miserable idea he has that benefits only himself. He's probably going to get overlooked for his role in this film because Leo's performance was so exceptional, but Hardy, to me, might have been even better. Then, there's the direction. Inarritu decided to shoot the entire film in the actual Canadian and Argentinean wilderness... in natural light. So, there was only limited amounts of shooting they could do during a day which led to an over-long production schedule. This also meant that the cast and crew were put on edge and were essentially fighting against Hypothermia constantly. I'm sure a lot of the people that worked on the film may not think it was worth it... I can tell you that it's one of the most gorgeously shot films I've ever seen. It's shot in a way that's new and crisp and clear. The opening shot of the movie, a shot of a crystal clear stream had me mouthing 'wow' and it only got more beautiful from there.
Inarritu also had Leo and co. do most of the things you watch on screen for real. They were really out in the frozen wilderness. When you see Leo swimming in a frozen lake... that's really a frozen fucking lake. When you watch Leo eat the liver of a bison... yeah. Now, who knows if he actually slept inside of a dead horse... probably not... but I like to think these are the lengths Leo would go to in order to either win the Oscar or prove they have something seriously against him. It's a great performance amid a gorgeous landscape and a difficult story to watch. This movie isn't for everyone, but those who do seek it out will be rewarded for it. It's definitely an Academy movie and there isn't really a lot of dialogue, but it isn't slow. It doesn't trudge along leisurely. It keeps you fascinated and terrified and disgusted and angry and emotional and excited. I loved every second of the film and can not wait to watch it again.
A
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