Review of The Revenant (2015) by Doktor_Vehicl3 — 11 Jan 2016

A mixed bag. Though The Revenant is an exceptionally well presented visual showpiece, it is also entirely nonsensical, ham-fistedly delivering its narrative, which like its protagonist's quest, is entirely devoid of any deep significance when it's through.

This is mostly due to a disconnect in logical proceedings, which wouldn't be too big a deal if the film wasn't attempting a realistic portrayal of the world. From the moment of the bear attack all suspension of disbelief is totally gone, leaving you only to shake your head as Glass survives countless fatal situations, and crosses roads with so many people important to plots surrounding him purely by coincidence.

Oh, it's because he's the best tracker that side of the country, now it all makes sense -- except for the part where he's been shredded to ribbons by a bear with only wet clothes on his back and in the forty below nights of the frontier.

While the visuals and soundtrack accompanying the dream sequences were some of the highlights of the movie, I felt they became a bit heavy handed, adding different visual themes without any real substance.

Some leaps in logic cast doubt over the final events of the movie, which really sticks out over whatever symbolism the filmmakers were trying to achieve with those scenes. Without spoiling anything, I will say that the climax of the film is well executed, which is good since it was the only really big payoff to look forward to.

As good as it looks, it's never as immersive or as symbolic as it wants to be with its cliched and nonsensical plot, as well as few noteworthy performances. Special commendations go to Tom Hardy, who excellently portrays the only well established character in the entire film.

His character is the only one I found to have inspired any curiosity, and that's a shame since he's the villain. Some great visuals aside, it's a miserable experience that strains your senses (particularly your ability to hear what characters are saying - my experience seemed to have a very poor sound mix with muffled, mumbling voices).