Review of The Revenant (2015) by Vinny G — 21 Apr 2016

The film is saturated with awesomeness in nearly every scene, but the issue at the end is frustrating in many ways. Firstly, Fitzgerald is forgiven outright once Glass catches up to him in the history books.

Secondly, this final scene, although intended to illustrate God's vengeance, or justice, is too immediate. It continues to cement in the modern movie-goers mind the falsehood that quick fixes solve all problems.

And linking this to God is even more frustrating as it seems to me His will was brashly used to solve a deep rooted problem simply to wrap up a movie for not even history's sake, but the viewers who, for all things, merely wanted Fitzgerald to die.

But it couldn't have been Glass who killed him, otherwise it would have discredited all elements of the movie, prominently his visions scenes where his Pawnee wife comes to him instilling in the viewer a deeper sense of love that goes beyond the grave, of which the revenant himself surely had gleaned in his brief jaunt into that unknown, being precisely the reason he didn't kill Fitzgerald.

Truly it's a wondrous movie to behold in so many ways, but once again, Hollywood has cheapened a reality, stooping, in really the only case in this movie, to the demands of quick storytelling. What a shame.