The Revenant - C+

​Quick Hit: Well-acted by its two stars, but at times slightly slow and boring, with the same techniques that Inarritu has used in other films.

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​Let me start off by saying this – Leo DiCaprio deserved his Oscar for this movie. He is thoroughly convincing throughout, is at times completely unrecognizable from the suave gentleman (using that loosely here) that appears in The Wolf of Wall Street and The Great Gatsby. The transformational aspect, as well as the ability to act a large portion of the movie without saying a word, is absolutely award worthy.

However, I didn’t like The Revenant all that much. It’s beautiful at times, with great cinematography. Inarritu has shown a great propensity for using that unbroken tracking shot (something that is being used more and more often in Hollywood, as Netflix’s Daredevil has used to devastatingly brilliant effects), and at times the film makes you feel like you are there. Blood splatters to the camera lens, breath fogs it, and dirt covers it. But, all those things can’t really help make up for the fact that The Revenant is way too long.
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​The problem with making movies about a man’s survival in nature, or about man vs. wild is that it takes

a long time for man to beat/survive. If you get hurt, it takes time to heal. If you can’t ride, you have to walk places, or crawl, or allow a freezing river to hurtle you downstream. All of this is fun to watch in pieces, but when you take it as a whole, you begin to realize that DiCaprio isn’t the only person being tested – the audience is as well.

It’s in these types of slow movies that you often find great acting, and this is no exception. The bit players are good, but the stars show why they are so. I’ve already touched on Leo in my opening paragraph, but there is another headliner here. Tom Hardy absolutely disappears into his role. You believe in his character motivations, you hate him, but you also can’t help but see his points. He is a scared man in a big world and is just trying to do what the movie is all about: survive.

Some of the best scenes in the film are the scenes of action, which is why I think it would be a better movie if it had been condensed a bit. Even the overused unbroken shot makes those scenes better. For instance, I think the opening scene with the battle of the Akirara was the best one in the film. Some films need the tension build up or character development from all the extra shots, but I don’t think this movie really required it. For instance, I think Birdman used that well to development the main character. But in The Revenant,  it was done because Inarritu wanted to put his stamp on it. But if you cut out a lot of the middle of the film, this movie wouldn’t have been okay, it would have been great.

I will say this - that scene with the bear is amazing. Makes you think twice about heading to the woods.

​Despite how wonderfully cinematic the film is, I can’t give it much higher than a C+ (and I'm still mad about the last shot in the film - come on).

For more on this film, check out IMDB.

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