Year: 2016
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
It’s January and after the Christmas blockbusters here come the Oscar-friendly movies. It is well-known that a sure path to that best actor statuette is to suffer for your art/play someone who suffers in their life. So Leonardo Di Caprio goes all frostbitten here in search of glory, playing early nineteenth-century guide and trapper Hugh Glass whose true story of abandonment in the South Dakota wilderness after a bear attack has inspired many re-tellings, of which this is the most recent. It’s clearly one of the founding stories of the American frontier, stressing the will of the individual to overcome all obstacles and beat the odds.
The pre-release guff about The Revenant focused on how much Di Caprio had really been mauled by a bear, and more credibly the general extreme weather conditions of the shoot. The bear attack is quite extra-ordinary and caps a quite brilliant first act that – IMHO – the rest of the movie struggles to live up to. The chaotic breaking up of the fur-trapping expedition that has brought Glass and his comrades to this extreme environment is a brilliantly paced mixture of violence and emotions.
In many ways it’s a similar picture to fellow Oscar hopeful The Martian – with Di Caprio abandoned by his comrades in the snowy wilderness as Damon is on Mars. Just as Damon’s voice and face are the continual focus, so here Di Caprio’s snow-bedecked beard is in virtually every frame. We only cut away from his story to follow other survivors of the fur-trapping party ,and the wider conflict between Indians, French and Americans that surrounds the fur-trapping trade.
No one is rooting back at Mission Control for Glass, he is on his own in the frozen wilderness. It is extreme. The wildlife – bears, bison, fish and wolves – is either hostile or a source of raw meat. The sub-zero weather is constantly threatening to freeze him to the spot. He is being chased by hostile Indians searching for one of their tribe who has been abducted and believe that Glass’s party was responsible. He has to heal himself from terrible injuries. Early C19 field triage is portrayed in such a graphic fashion that I’m surprised it was a 15.
It looks stunning from start to finish, the blues and whites of the frozen landscape highlighting struggling life in its bleak and epic landscapes. Di Caprio’s performance, silent for large stretches and focused on overcoming physical pain and sheer survival, is a world away from Damon’s chipper Martian, and brings to mind the method acting extremes of prime time De Niro.
We should also mention that the music is excellent, all restrained icy strings and echoing minor chords by Ryiuchi Sakamoto, The National’s Bryce Dessner and Alva Noto.
Is it a great film? That depends on your capacity and attitude towards films as endurance tests. We’re with Glass every agonising hand-over-hand crawl to survival and there is no let up. Certainly no gags. For me perhaps there is one too many moment when Glass comes round in the snowbound wastes to find he has nothing but his damaged body, and an icy and violent death is yet again moments away. But it’s refreshing after aforesaid Martian, Hunger Games and Star Wars to see an action film where cutting-edge technology is a flintstone and a musket.
Might appeal to people who enjoyed:
The other film it reminded me of, in following a single premise non-stop for the entire film, is Gravity. As Bullock is powered by the need to survive, Di Caprio is powered by the need to revenge himself on those who abandoned him. Like Gravity The Revenant is surely best seen on the biggest screen you can find to revel in the visuals, suspend your disbelief and strap in for the ride.
I saw it a couple of days ago. I thought it was technically brilliant, but just a little bit boring/meh. I am glad I saw it, but cant ever imagine watching it again.
TBPH, I wish I had gone to see Creed instead.
Creed is fantastic, Les. Go see it.
“Boring” was very much my reaction. A little Cold Mountain, a touch of Apocalypto.
Apocalypto is a brilliant film.
Agree with you there Bing. One of those films that, if I notice it while channel hopping, I’ll watch it again, no matter how many times I’ve seen it. Like JtheB above, I have no desire to ever see The Revenant again.
Excellent review MM. Not absolutely sure it’s made me want to dash off and see it but you’ve made it very clear what we can expect. Your parallels with The Martian and Gravity were interesting. Tells me something about the geist of the Zeit we are living in.
Hugh Gass *titter*….oh, sorry, my mistake, it’s Glass
A brilliant review. I think I liked a bit more than you, I enjoyed the second half where everything slowed down it became less flashy. Top mumbling from Tom Hardy but I thought Will Poulter was outstanding.
I liked Will Poulter too. Apart from his great debut in Son of Rambo he was very impressive in Wild Bill and he raised dumb comedy We Are The Millers up a notch. Nice to see him building a career.
Great review. It most reminded me of Hateful8, the Tarantino movie, which is also set in the snow wastes of the mid west at around the same period as this one.
I’m inclined to agree with jackthebiscuit above: it’s just a little bit boring. I’d add that the final fight scene reminded me of the recurring joke in Family Guy where Peter Griffin fights the chicken. It was too gory and long.
For me it’s a 3 star film.
I think if you want to be unkind to the film there are several ‘jump the shark’ or in this case ‘jump the cliff’ moments where the disbelief you are asked to suspend is just a bit too much. If the Wikipedia entry is to be believed then Glass’ telling of his story makes it just as remarkable as the film events.
Mr Hardy seems to be one of the Masters of the Mumble, as commented on in The Trip to Italy.
Excellent review, but I confess that we crossed it off our list after we’d seen the trailer for about the 5th time. I suspect Hateful Eight might be much more my cup of tea, though I’ll have to find a Tarantino buddy to go and see it with, since Mrs thep has announced she wants nothing to do with it.
Just watched Hateful 8. As usual with Tarantino I have absolutely no idea if it was a brilliant and insightful homage or complete bollocks.
My take would be it’s complete bollocks, along with most of his output.
There are excellent turns, Morricone’s score is gorgeous & the cinematography is suitably lush, & I’d contend it’s hard to be bored watching Russell or Jackson.
However, after a highly enjoyable opening 30-40 mins, it got turgid IMO.
Bereft of pace but worst of all, I couldn’t give a toss about any of the protagonists.
Like most of QT’s stuff, it’s less than the sum of its parts. He’s capable of great cinematic panache & catchy dialogue, but ultimately I don’t really think he has anything to say beyond ‘Look! I can do this!’ & is likely to remain forever a very talented but essentially immature film maker.
He puts me in mind of a rock guitarist who can ‘do’ a brilliant ‘ Jimmy Paige’ or ‘ Angus Young’, knows how they get their trademark riffs & sound & has an amazing collection of pedals, but never really comes up with anything of his/her own beyond terrific pastiches.
He doesn’t give a toss what I think obviously, so I’m sure he’ll survive kickings like this. 🙂
Every approach contains a disadvantage. It seems to me the problem with QT’s post-meta referential/deferential arm’s length detachment schtick is there can be no “well of goodwill” to draw from. When we were watching Vic and Bob one time, a friend pointed out to me that their great gift (as with many comedians) was that they had something about them that made you want to laugh, even before they said anything. With Tarantino I’ve liked some of his movies, others not so much and some I have no wish to see at all, but when I sit down to watch one of his films it’s always with my metaphorical arms folded and my “go on then, impress me” face on. There is no “well of goodwill” to draw on..
Lots of cinema is a fireworks display “about nothing”; The Hateful Eight has been accused of evoking the spirit of Agatha Christie, but your comment about “catchy dialogue” but “nothing to say” puts me more in mind of the plays of Oscar Wilde (!)
For me, Pulp Fiction is a well of goodwill that never goes dry.
FWIIW – Quentin Tarantootie films – I love Pulp Fiction & Jackie Brown, all his other films are a bit underwhelming to me.
I like the notion of the ‘well of goodwill’ that can be drawn on & agree that QT has very little.
I’d rate Jackie Brown as by far his best movie & that’s in part probably because it has more empathy & warmth than his others, & it succeeds in being more than just a ‘take’ on the ‘Foxy’ early/mid 70s originals – we want Jackie to make it & are glad when she does.
Most of his other stuff ( including Reservoir Dogs & Pulp Fiction that I loved on release) actually have very little heart & are essentially cold.
Go on your own Mike if necessary. It is brilliant. Starts off very slowly to allow the characters to build but rewarding in the end. In terms of character and dialogue it is closest to Pulp Fiction. Tarantino definitely wears his Elmore Leonard influences on his sleeve though which is not a bad thing.
Good review MM, and I liked the parallel with The Martian.
We went to see it on Saturday evening and both loved it, as evidently did the whole audience; I can’t remember the last time I saw a cinema crowd so totally immersed and committed to a film, especially one coming in at just shy of 3 hours. I’m sure it helped that the audience was composed entirely of adults
DiCaprio was very good and I hope he finally lands an Oscar (if he doesn’t, he’s probably going to have to fight a real bear) but for both of us the stand-out performance was Tom Hardy as Fitzgerald – really hope he gets Best Supporting.
I thought the direction and cinematography were first-class, and I really hope it cleans up at the awards.
And there really ought to be an award for Best Landscape – sheesh!
Shot in Canada.
Yeah I know, I looked it up on Sunday.
Mostly west of Calgary, Alberta, but also a little bit just over the border into the US, in Montana. And apparently they also filmed some mountains at the southern tip of Argentina and then digitally stitched them into the background of one wide-shot sequence because the Canadian mountains weren’t snowy enough!
Saw The Hateful Eight at weekend and it was a toss up between the two. Glad I chose Samuel L Jackson and Tarantino. Brilliant movie and no nomination for Jackson is a travesty.
Agreed!
There’s been a lot of noise about the absence of non- white faces among the acting nominees again this year. The “whitewash” has only been underlined by the fact that, in a film dominated by black talent (Creed) Sly Stallone got the only nomination and Straight Outta Compton’s success has been saluted by a nod to it’s all-White team of writers..
As noted above, I absolutely loved Creed, and thought Michael B Jordan did a great job. But Stallone’s is the performance that pulls the whole movie together. He’s the heart and soul of the film. I’ve seen he’s getting trashed this week by the whole “Oscars So White” movement, but I think that’s utterly bogus, and trades on the perception that Sly is a talent-less meathead. Personally, I don’t care what colour his skin is, he did an awesome job, he deserved a nod on his own merit, and if we really must box-tick, he should win some props for being (to my knowledge) the only candidate on the list with a partial disability.
Straight Outta Compton – personally, I thought it sucked. But even if it didn’t, did anyone seriously watch that movie first time round and think “oh, definitely Oscars for this”? It makes Creed look like Schindler’s List, and frankly I think they were bloody lucky the writers got a shout.
Clearly, the Academy has an issue with nominating a disproportionately small number of people from ethnic minorities. But I don’t look at the lack of nominations for MBJ (who I love) or Straight Outta Compton (which I didn’t) and consider either of those omissions to be criminal. Ryan Coogler – maybe worth a nod for Best Director, although at 29 it would have been unusual, and some more due-paying is probably required.
I don’t think anyone has been robbed of an award in 2015 because of their ethnicity. I think the industry has a way to go to allow true parity to talent from ethnic minorities, but I think the real work to be done on that score is at the finance and production level, not focusing on spangly award bullshit. More black/ethnic faces on screen and behind the camera means more chances to win.
I don’t want to see racism, but nor do I want to see tokenism, and it seems to me that’s what’s being called for in some quarters this week.
Good points, well made – especially re Sly (although he had to make seven whole Rocky movies to get two noms, whereas Judi Dench got an Oscar for a performance you’d miss if popped to the loo).
I gather the LGBT people aren’t happy about (amongst other things) the exclusion of Carol from Best Picture. I’ve not seen most of these films – just reporting…
I thought Revenant was preposterous and pretentious. The prettier and much wiser other half thought it was stunningly brilliant. (Top notch review Mr Moles)
“How much Di Caprio had really been mauled by a bear”
– I suppose Gentle Ben’s agent has to get him work where he can as Dan Haggerty’s (who played Grizzly Adams) death last week has scuppered any chance of that show making an X Files style return.
“Mauled by a bear” – that Equity must be one sh*t Union. Their poor record on health and safety compliance goes all the way back to the sixties..
(2001 jaguar attack @ 25 seconds)
I loved it and thought the opening scene was as good as that in Saving Private Ryan.
Yep, agree about the opening scene. There were also touches of Gladiator about the film (I will have my revenge and visions of dead family). If DiCaprio and Hardy both pick up Oscars there’ll be no complaints from me. Of the nominated films I’ve seen I’d be more inclined to give it to The Martian.
In recent days I’ve seen The Revenant, The Hateful 8 and Mad Max. Enjoyed them all but none of them are classics.
Samuel L Jackson was born to deliver Tarantino’s lines.
I enjoyed the film but couldn’t decide if Tom Hardy’s accent was brilliant or ridiculous.
Sorry, can you write that again. Couldn’t quite make it out.
I quite enjoyed it, but just kept thinking to myself “How is he not dead from exposure?”.
I think having George Clooney chatting away enabled us in Gravity to understand why she wasn’t dead yet, Glass was a bit more taciturn and without any ridealong, so yes we had to take his death-cheating more at face value. As I said, perhaps one too many’face down in the snow again’ moment, but maybe it was all immaculately researched and all true…
It may well be wholly true and at least we now know how to survive a freezing night if we have a handy dead horse to hand.
A Tauntaun also does the job.
As does a bed.
Beds lack independent body heat. I prefer to sleep in something freshly-slaughtered.
What with seeing the Revenant and the Hateful Eight, I’ve spent an awful lot of time in the pictures lately! Enjoyed both but thought The Hateful Eight to be a better (more enjoyable) film. Mrs S has this the other way around. I’m looking forward to seeing “The Room” soon to.
I’m looking forward to seeing “The Room”, too, but it doesn’t open here in Sweden until 18 March. Bah!
Yeah, I preferred Hateful Eight.
I saw Room at a screening before Christmas where the director and cast members were there for a chat and to take questions. The boy in it is very cute in real life, not at all an LA precocious brat as is so often the way. Really normal parents.
My feeling was that I found the film a bit too claustrophobic and thought key bits of it were so far fetched that became distracted by them (I won’t elaborate as it’d be a spoiler). On the plus side any film with William H Macy is probably worth seeing for that alone. And this is much more than just that. My partner loved it – I’d given her the book which she’d enjoyed a couple of years earlier and so was interested to see how they would translate the internal dialogue story to film.
All in all I’d probably go with her view on this as she’s a professional film critic and I’m just her ‘plus 1’.
Went to see The Revenant last night – more of an ordeal than an enjoyable evening out. As previously mentioned astonishing cinematography and brutal realism. But there were acres of mumbled dialogue that just passed me by. Leonardo has virtually no dialogues just endless grunts and howlings as he is put through increasingly graphic violence and injury. The bear attack scene is extraordinary – yeah we know its CGI but that goes out of the window when you see it. But at times it verged on the cartoonish – this guy is seemingly indestructible.
All involved should get Oscars if only for effort and endurance, but purely as a film and story there was nothing new on show.