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

Mad Max: Oregon Trail.

An impressive technical exercise that is often beautiful to look at and easy to admire, this is a surprisingly superficial and simplistic look at survival and revenge in the wilderness. Leonardo DiCaprio tortures and degrades himself for your amusement for two-and-a-half hours, which is an impressive act of commitment, but doesn't do much to develop a character or tell a story. This is the 'Blair Witch' school of acting, where the exhaustion and annoyance of a real life actor is used as lazy short hand for some sort of transcendent terror that the film is too slavish to it's capital C 'Craft' to ever achieve. Again, Emmanuel Lubezki proves why he's one of the greats, but even his impressive use of natural lighting here can seem like a stiffing gimmick as one over-cast grey landscape bleeds into another. You'll keep hoping for some sunlight to eventually break through the monotony and add some dimension to both the scenery and the story.