The Revenant:
Fur trapper Hugh Glass is on a journey with a large party of scouts and trappers with his half-Indian son Hawk. After some unforeseen strokes of bad luck, Hugh finds himself left for dead in the harsh winter. Struggling to survive with vengeance as his only motivator, Glass braves the unrelenting wrath of mother nature. (DO NOT watch any trailers for the film, just take my word for it, they spoil a number of key reveals that I feel negatively effected my viewing experience a bit.)
After being in development for 14 years, with numerous notable stars and one director (Park Chan-woo) leaving the project over the years, it's a wonder this film turned out as beautifully as it did. While Chan-woo is of course an incredibly gifted director with a keen eye for visuals, I don't even think he would have pulled off what Iñárritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki were able to with this film. The long, uninterrupted, flowing movements of the camera throughout incredibly complicated action scenes in uncompromising and difficult filming locations astounds me and it is this monumental task that was accomplished that really pushes this film out of the realm of just general Oscar bait. Iñárritu is one of the most compelling and talented directors working today and I always look forward to his projects. Just one year after his Best Picture win for Birdman, it looks like he'll be taken home the gold statue again because to pull off this absolutely daunting film in under a year is breathtaking.
Leonardo DiCaprio has always flirted with the idea of method acting but never really gone in full the way Christian Bale does, or Heath Ledger and Robert De Niro did. This is about as close as he's ever come to going complete method acting and it pays off. Despite this role feeling a very obvious plea to the Academy for Leo's ever-elusive Oscar win, his physical commitment to it and the things he reportedly did to prepare for his character are shocking and what most people would consider overkill but I feel without them, this film wouldn't be as impressive.
Tom Hardy is excellent as the film's antagonist character, and the closest the film gets to a truly through-and-through despicable character. His physical appearance and savage mannerism were executed potently by Hardy and the make-up effects team, turning him and Leo from the handsomest men in Hollywood to disgusting, grungey scavengers.
Will Poulter, Domhnall Gleeson, Forrest Goodluck, Paul Anderson, Brendan Fletcher, Kristoffer Joner, Brad Carter, Melaw Nakehk'o, Luka Haas, and Duane Howard fill out the rest of the principal cast, and all do an excellent job, except Gleeson. While he was serviceable, he didn't surprise me as much as the rest of the cast and felt like a bit of a weak link.
While there are some glaring historical inaccuracies, which I won't spoil here for the sake of maintaining surprise for when you see the film, I just recommend to only take the film's story with a grain of salt and read up on it yourself. I also felt some of the political statements on Native Americans, both in the film and in the press surrounding it, were on-the-nose, unoriginal, and overdone. In the opening sequence, it seemed like they were taking an objective stance, portraying both sides as flawed and bit cruel, but then the rest of the film is spent talking about how great Native Americans were and trying to push the stereotype that Native Americans were peace-loving, in touch with the earth, and completely docile until settlers arrived.
Many of stated the violence in this film is gut-wrenching and hard-to-watch, and although it is, and unlike anything Iñárritu has one before, I felt this hype was unwarranted. I sat there thinking "Sure, this is awful, but I've seen worse. Maybe if I didn't go into this with such expectations I'd be more shocked." Thanks again, social media, for once again overhyping something to no end with your sensationalism!
Other than those two things, which are more minor complaints than major distractions, I felt this was an absolute dynamo that probably blows every other Oscar nominee out of the water (haven't seen them all yet, so who knows). Iñárritu has yet again delivered a brutal, unflinching film that tests the viewer, even if it does get a little pretentious at times. 8/10 stars.
(Image: Wikipedia)
No comments:
Post a Comment