The Revenant
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domnhall Gleeson, Will Poulter
Directed By: Alejandro Iñárritu
Written By: Mark L. Smith, Alejandro Iñárritu
Reviewed by Brendan Dousi
[rating: 4/5]
For Alejandro Iñárritu’s 2014 critical darling Birdman I had a bit of a problem with the pacing. I loved the film, don’t get out your pitchforks, but I felt that the gimmick behind the single-take format didn’t leave the film enough time to breathe for its major dramatic moments. Funnily enough, my main issue with his latest film The Revenant is exactly the opposite. It does way too much breathing.
From basically every technical standpoint, The Revenant is absolutely stunning. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki pulls off some of his finest work yet, which is saying something considering he also did Children of Men (2006), and undoubtedly has the Oscar in the bag. Every single shot of this film looks like a living, breathing postcard as crisp scenery is illuminated by beautiful natural light. As much trouble as they had filming this, spending weeks on end trying to get the perfect lighting, it absolutely paid off. Added in with deliberate, visceral direction and an un-invasive, yet effective score, this is perhaps one of the most gorgeous films to exist in maybe all of cinema.
The only detriment of this film, and this is utterly subjective, is it’s often excruciatingly slow pacing. Plenty of scenes, especially the action set-pieces, play along with a fantastic, exuberant and frantic energy that utterly engrosses you. That opening battle? Oomph. The bear attack? Don’t even get me started. The final show-down? Hnnng. Between these amazing set-pieces, however, the film likes to take it’s time to an almost stubborn degree. It gets so caught up in showing off its amazing visuals that it often sacrifices the forward momentum the previous scenes had been so brilliantly building. I understand the need to slow down and let the film breathe, but there is a difference between slowing down the car to enjoy the scenic tour and stopping the car, getting out and going for a stroll.
The question that’s been buzzing around this film the most frequently has been the inevitable, “Is this it? Is this Leo’s year?” Will Leonardo DiCaprio finally win his Oscar? I can’t even begin to unravel the thought process of the cantankerous Mummies that decide these things, but I can say that he absolutely deserves it. DiCaprio’s Hugh Glass barely utters a handful of words throughout this entire film, but the raw physicality of his performance is truly impressive. Leo clearly is giving everything he has into this role and it shows every second he is on screen. Admirably, every single supporting actor here matches his ferocity and gives it back in equal measure. Tom Hardy as John Fitzgerald is obviously as fantastic as you expect him to be as our main antagonist, but a special nod goes to the relative new-comer Will Poulter who plays Bridger, some poor scamp who gets unwittingly caught up in Fitzgerald’s plot.
While The Revenant can dawdle at times, the relentless and vicious energy of the rest of the film more than makes up for it. With power-house performances, mind-blowing visuals and one of the best CGI bear attacks you will ever see, Iñárritu appears to be building up one hell of a track-record.
