Review of The Revenant (2015) by Bhbarry — 09 Jan 2016

"The Revenant" stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy in this "based in part on a true story" of mountaineer Hugh Glass and his fight for survival in the South Dakota wilderness after an almost fatal encounter with a bear. The film was directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Innarritu ("Birdman") who, with Mark L. Smith, co-wrote the screenplay based on the novel by Michael Punke. Although shot in Canada and Argentina, the film attempts to depict the challenges of a South Dakota winter n 1823. The word "revenant" is derived from the French word "revenir" (i.e. to return) and literally means the return of the spirit from the dead. This is the plight of Mr. DiCaprio’s character as he struggles across the barren icy wasteland for over 2 and ½ hours of viewing time. The audience also feels his pain and anguish since it too has to suffer through this ordeal as it is forced to endure a tedious and overlong excursion through the cold and unforgiving wilderness. The difference of course is that Mr. DiCaprio was paid for his suffering while the audience was not. Mr. DiCaprio’s character is enmeshed in a thin story line and basically has a non-verbal role as the script requires him to do a great amount of crawling and some groaning but, unfortunately, these do not necessarily rise to the level of great entertainment.

One must acknowledge the haunting and vitally important original musical score created by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto and the spectacular photography of Emmanuel Lubizki. That being said, I found myself looking at my watch at least 3 times during the film in hopes that it was nearing its conclusion and wondering why I saw what the editor didn’t. I give the film a 6.0 rating for it proves once again that advertising and hype will not always make a film great but a quality screenplay and strong acting performances will. In my opinion, this film is lacking in both.