The Revenant – Film Review

Emmanuel Lubezki certainly deserves the Oscar for his cinematography again for his work on this film. Each shot feels like a painting that you could frame. The use of just using natural light for the film was a brilliant and expensive choice that definitely paid off as a work of art. I raise their choice for creative voice and experimenting with something new. The use of color and tone really pay off that keep your eyes visually appealed from start to finish. There are even great breaks to give your eyes a rest so the film isn’t overly visually over the top.

Leonardo Dicaprio does a great job in the film as Hugh Glass. His character had a pretty straightforward arc. He portrayed the struggle to survive compellingly that you felt his suffering throughout the entirety of the film. Domhnall Gleeson and Will Poulter are great supporting cast characters with Tom Hardy doing a fine job as the villain of the film. He shows his breadth in this film with his accent, character style and motivations that he hasn’t done much of before. The core plot of the film is a revenge plot between Hugh Glass and Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) which was resolved by the end of the film but there was a subplot with the Indians trying to find Hugh Glass’ Indian wife that I felt was interesting but wasn’t clearly told why that was important.

I ain’t afraid to die anymore. I’d done it already.

A few of the negatives I had with the film included the fact that the film is a big long. The story was dragged out farther than it needed to go because you knew where it was going and what was going to happen. It just had to tighten up the story a bit to more of 2 hour 5 minute film. The film is a puzzle that doesn’t clearly state when it is showing a dream sequence or moving the story along. Some of the plot lines aren’t clearly resolved.

Overall the film is a well acted great piece of movie making that is definitely worth seeing in theaters. For all its faults on being long and a puzzle that you need to put together it is a great piece of cinema that is one to watch.

9.5/10