The Revenant

Last night I went with my parents to see The Revenant.  To be honest, I wasn't really that interested until Leonardo DiCaprio won the Golden Globe for Best Actor last Sunday and I decided that I couldn't miss out on such a lauded performance!  I don't even know if I can do justice to this epic tale of one man's survival!  It is simultaneously the most gruesome and beautiful film I have ever seen and DiCaprio gives a tour de force performance that is simply astonishing.  During the early 1800s, a group of fur trappers in the unexplored Louisiana Purchase is attacked by a hostile Native American tribe and all but a small group are killed.  They escape down the river but Hugh Glass (DiCaprio), their guide, recommends leaving their pelts and going overland because they are bound to be attacked again.  John Fiztgerald (Tom Hardy) takes great exception to this as it will mean the loss of their pay  and animosity develops between the two.  Glass stumbles upon a Grizzly bear with her two cubs and is ferociously attacked (in one of the most intense scenes I've ever seen), barely surviving.  The trappers build a stretcher to carry Glass but it soon becomes impossible and the leader of the expedition, Captain Henry (Domhnall Gleeson), asks for volunteers to stay behind with him until he dies.  His son Hawk (Forrest Goodluck), a young trapper named Jim Bridger (Will Poulter), and Fitzgerald volunteer and Henry exacts their promise to stay with him and give him a proper burial.  Thinking Glass a burden, Fitzgerald tries to kill him.  Hawk witnesses the attempt so Fitzgerald kills him, telling Bridger that he is missing, and then leaves Glass, who is still alive.  Glass uses his intense desire for revenge to survive in the harsh environment (where everything, and I mean everything, happens to him) and find Fitzgerald.  There are some twists and turns (literally and figuratively) along the way, culminating in a scene that blew my mind.  The cinematography is breathtaking, emphasizing both the destructive power and pristine beauty of the wilderness (it was filmed primarily in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada) and the score is innovative, haunting, and intense.  As previously mentioned, DiCaprio is outstanding is this physically demanding (to say the least) role, totally immersing himself into the world of a frontiersman.  Hardy and Gleeson, who is having quite the year (go here and here), also give memorable performances.  This film is not for the faint of heart (I actually had to turn away in one of the more graphic scenes) but it is certainly a not-to-be-missed adventure.

Note:  I have seen most of the films that are likely to be nominated for Academy Awards and, in my opinion, there is not a performance to equal DiCaprio's.  Not even close.  They might as well just give him the Oscar.