The Revenant Review

The Revenant is the latest film from Alejandro González Iñárritu who some may remember as the director of last year’s best picture film, Birdman. The Revenant stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy who both provide us with two of the best physical performances in a film so far this year. The Revenant was so good and I enjoyed it so much that with only one day since I have seen it, I already would like to watch it again!

From the opening scene until the final scene Alejandro González Iñárritu immerses you in the super rough, wild, violent and cruel world of the 1820’s where people were fighting to survive not only just against the natural elements of the environment but also amongst themselves. It’s a world where almost everything and everyone is dangerous and you gotta be really tough to survive in it for a long time.

We follow this character Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio), who early on in the film is attacked by a wild bear and later left for dead by his crew. He sets out on revenge of course, but he’s so badly wounded from the bear attack, just how will he survive? It’s not only his crew that are dangerous, there’s creatures and countless tribes of Indians to watch out for as well.

The opening battle scene of The Revenant is one of the most well shot scenes I have seen a film for a long time, if not for all time. Right from the beginning of the film Alejandro González Iñárritu slowly immerses us into the world we will be in for the following 156 minutes where we slowly are introduced to our main characters, everything is quiet. Then all of a sudden they’re under attack and our journey begins, we see a battle, which is a most gruesome one I must say and it’s awesome! Everyone is powerful and it’s horrible really, but it’s wonderful to watch.

In recommending the film to everyone, I would say to just go along and watch it if you’re interested. But with that in mind I do have to mention the violence level. The Revenant is very violent and if you have troubles with blood or watching people get killed, shot with arrows, shot with guns or just smashed up by a bear then you may have some troubles with some scenes. But for me personally it’s nothing, that’s the world of Hugh Glass, I imagine it was gruesome and cruel and the violence is realistic but it’s all necessary for the story.

The cinematography in The Revenant is excellent. The landscapes, the lighting and the natural scenery of the world of Hugh Glass that we were shown was breathtaking. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s directing was excellent and I honestly cannot find a flaw in it no matter how much I think about it. Right from the beginning, it was like this film was on an entirely different tier above anything released so far this year, it’s just another level of goodness.

As mentioned the performances from the two lead actors were excellent. This is one of the most physical performances I have seen from Leonardo DiCaprio and he really stood out as something phenomenal as Hugh Glass. I didn’t even feel like I was watching Leonardo DiCaprio in there, it was like he actually was Hugh Glass, it was just a very convincing performance to be honest. Tom Hardy was excellent as well and while not in the film as much as Leonardo DiCaprio, his moments are all memorable and I don’t want to mention the best part between the two because of spoilers, but trust me on this they are both great.

The sound editing is something that I would say is worth a mention. Similar to Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman we do get a lot of drums beating at certain dramatic points, but in this film because of the stronger tone and more brutal fight scenes, these drums really get your blood going, particularly towards the end. Little things as well like characters breathing, gun shots or anything you would think to be minor was emphasized which helped elevate the atmosphere of the film even higher.

There’s nothing more I can say about The Revenant, it’s just so good! I don’t have a single complaint about this film. Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance was excellent and he was incredibly impressive as Hugh Glass while Tom Hardy did well as John Fitzgerald. Alejandro González Iñárritu gave us a film here that is truly on another level compared to anything released so far in 2015 and The Revenant is likely going to stand up as one of this year’s best. I’m happy to recommend this film for all to see, although I do warn about the violence if you’re sensitive to those things. But if you couldn’t care less about violence or even enjoy it more than most, then just go watch it.