Review of The Revenant (2015) by Peterbelbita — 07 Apr 2016

"Revenge is a dish best served cold" is the most fitting adage here, seeing as how DiCaprio spends nearly the entire film in freezing conditions, fueled only by his fiery rage and insatiable desire for vengeance.

The scenery is amazing; the graphics of the bear mauling impeccable; the intermittent gnashing of teeth (DiCaprio's) punctuate scenes like the icy blast of winter's first freeze, cutting the viewer to the core.

No doubt, his performance was impressive, and he committed to the role with an intensity that skewers the viewer's soul, much as the computer-generated bear did to DiCaprio's nearly frozen limbs. The story itself misses the mark historically, as the real Hugh Glass did not have a son; however, the overlying, timeless theme of righting someone's wrong rings as true in the 1820's as it does today.

It is that drive to make someone accountable for his actions that keeps the viewer glued to the screen from start to finish. One can't help but wonder what he or she would do in a similar situation, and how he or she at one time has also felt like Hugh Glass, wishing to make someone pay for another person's wrongdoing.

In addition to DiCaprio's performance, Tom Hardy proved a force to be reckoned with, chewing each scene as hard as he did the wad of tobacco he slid carefully between his teeth and cheek intermittently.

It was his performance that was perhaps the most overlooked, and the final reckoning between Hardy and DiCaprio was a cinematic masterpiece.