Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? If you’re a Leonardo DiCaprio fan.
Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? No.
Secret ending? No.
Running time: 156 minutes (~2.5 hours)
“The Revenant” is a thriller/adventure film that’s based on the novel of the same name. It revolves around a fur hunter’s long and arduous journey across icy wilderness to get revenge. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio (Hugh Glass), Tom Hardy (John Fitzgerald), Domhnall Gleeson (Andrew Henry), Will Poulter (Jim Bridger), Forrest Goodluck (Hawk), and Arthur RedCloud (Hikuc). It is rated M-18.
“The Revenant” is well shot and has all the artistic style necessary for a fine movie. Yet that’s where the problem lies — it tries too hard to impress by going to the extreme in every possible way. Without any variation on its edginess, the audience soon gets shocked into normalcy. And if the audience is no longer fearful of yet another violent blow to the main character, then there’s no more tension, and the film has failed in creating emotional resonance in its viewers.
Highlights
Friendship between Hugh and Hikuc
While it’s just a small component of the movie, it’s heartening to see Hugh and Hikuc bonding over their common situation. In a film where everything is about violence, rage and revenge, it’s refreshing to see a small touch of compassion. It also shows that despite the cultural differences between Hugh and Hikuc, basic human kindness still triumphs.
Man vs Nature
One of the main conflicts throughout the film is Hugh’s struggle to survive in the harsh elements. It’s a proud showcase of ingenuity and resourcefulness when we see Hugh overcoming the raw, unforgiving climate of North America. It reinforces our faith in how much humans can accomplish and gives us a sense of pride in the human race.
Letdowns
Pointless gore
The blood and gore are what earns the film its M-18 rating, and it delivers on that promise right from the first scene. It starts by making you squirm uncomfortably with the injuries sustained by the characters. But by exaggerating the violence to such high levels from the beginning, it desensitises us to future displays of violence. And there are so many gory scenes that by the middle of the film, you’re going “oh, more blood and pain, OK” and just shrugging your shoulders. It serves no other purpose other than to shock, and feels like a pointless indulgence.
No sense of location
You have absolutely no idea where Hugh is most of the time. There are no indications where is he, other than the fact that he’s on a mountain with rivers and a forest. It feels like he’s always trudging through the same forest, just shot from different angles. Without this sense of how close he is to his destination, you’re not sure whether Hugh has progressed in his mission, or if he’s just wandering into the next bloody fight.
Hugh’s unbelievable number of injuries
The movie starts with Hugh sustaining near fatal injuries, which is part of the premise. Then he continues getting into more horrific accidents that would kill any normal man, but still manages to stay spry. It gets ludicrous after the umpteenth mortal injury, and makes Hugh out to be some sort of real life Wile E Coyote. You could drop an anvil on his head and he’d survive. It completely destroys your suspension of disbelief, since Hugh seems effectively unkillable.
“The Revenant” isn’t terrible, it just lacks subtlety in its execution. It has a fairly serviceable story, but the entire execution makes it seem cartoonish, albeit in a dark humour sort of way.
“The Revenant” opens in cinemas 4 February, 2016 (Thursday).
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