Aylmer to Zazzoo and Beyond: The Revenant

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

The Revenant - Movie Review

Rated: R | Common Senses Media says: Parents need to know that The Revenant is a revenge Western full of brutal, punishing violence. The main character (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) overcomes crippling wounds, hunger, cold, and pain to find the man who killed his son; he's often shown in great agony. Characters are also shot with arrows and guns, mauled by bears, and fall over cliffs. Blood, gore, and wounds are shown, as are dead bodies (both human and animal). A woman is raped. Language is also very strong, with uses of "f--k," "s--t," and more. There's a brief moment of full-frontal male nudity and some whisky drinking is shown.

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu (as Alejandro G. Iñárritu)

Writers: Mark L. Smith (screenplay), Alejandro González Iñárritu (screenplay) (as Alejandro G. Iñárritu) , Michael Punke (based in part on the novel by)

Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter | See full cast and crew

Inspired by true events, THE REVENANT is an immersive and visceral cinematic experience capturing one man’s epic adventure of survival and the extraordinary power of the human spirit. In an expedition of the uncharted American wilderness, legendary explorer Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is brutally attacked by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team. In a quest to survive, Glass endures unimaginable grief as well as the betrayal of his confidant John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy). Guided by sheer will and the love of his family, Glass must navigate a vicious winter in a relentless pursuit to live and find redemption. THE REVENANT is directed and co-written by renowned filmmaker, Academy Award® winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman, Babel).

I found this film to be a torturous, self indulgent, masturbatory, vehicle to showcase the increasingly tiresome over-acting of the grandiosely overrated Leonardo DiCaprio. I know, a lot of people are enamored by this "actor" but I couldn't wait for the excruciating experience to end.

The cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki, this revenge Western isn't terrible, but its grandiose treatment is dulled by a dull, flat story. Lubezki's previous work includes The Tree of Life, Gravity, and Birdman (3 other dull, tedious, vacuous films) -- his work behind the camera gives THE REVENANT a fully immersive, dimensional look, with impressive long takes and striking sense of physical realism.

Initially, it's easy to be carried away by the visual spectacle but is all too soon apparent that Oscar-winning director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu really doesn't have anything enthralling to say here, and the drudgery of sacrificing 2 hours and 36 minutes becomes as cold a reality as the settings of the film. It is simply a long attempt to add weight and profundity to an uninteresting pulp Western. Some of the story turns are so predictable and insufferably familiar, the supporting characters are thin stereotypes, i.e. Tom Hardy.

Watching the cast trudge through icy water when a step to the left or right could have left them with dry boots and feet in their frozen surroundings, what sensible person out in the ice and snow would deliberately get their feet soaked when it is necessary, sheer stupidity on the part of the director.

Would someone, please, tell me how many times must we be subjected to Leonardo DiCaprio's 30 foot high, pitiful, scared and bloody face, looking sad, cold, pensive, and revengeful? Cutting or even shortening some of his close-ups could have cut 30 minuets off of the relentless boredom of this film and when you add in such a high level of sheer brutality The Revenant leaves a very strong aftertaste of unpleasantness.