REVIEW: THE REVENANT
After cleaning up handsomely at the Golden Globes, and getting a whopping twelve nominations at the Academy Awards (with Mad Max: Fury Road coming in a close second place!), the casual moviegoer is probably becoming very intrigued with seeing Alejandro G. Innáritu's The Revenant. On paper it's maybe not such an easy sell: a man is left for dead by a greedy trapper and he has to fight is way back to exact revenge. That's it: a fairly simple plot. So is it worth your dollar?
Absolutely: if you don't mind a little blood. And by a little I mean one of the most violent movies I saw in the 2015 movie year, right behind The Hateful Eight but still well in front of Kingsman. It also has some shades of Angelina Jolie's Unbroken. If you hate Leonardo DiCaprio, see this movie, because you get to watch him suffer what regular people would break under: unendurable circumstances. When he's not almost mercy killed by his men he's getting buried alive. When he's not getting hurled through river rapids he's getting shot at. He is not assaulted by the Oscar-nominated (for special effects) bear named Judy, but it was one of the most intense sequences from last year's cinematic offerings. And if you like Leonardo DiCaprio, oh boy. This is one of his best roles to date.
With now six Oscar nominations under his belt, it's easy to see why we fan over DiCaprio like he's a movie god. He's not: is there such thing? But he's very selective (not Daniel Day-Lewis selective, but still) over his projects. Since the year 2000 he's worked with Eastwood, Tarantino, Scorsese, Nolan. You know why that's an impressive list? Those are all directors that you knew by just their last names. He can add another to that roster: Innáritu. Fresh off his triple-Oscar winning success of Birdman, AGI delivers another bonafide winner here. Again working with Emmanuel "Chivo" Lubezki on cinematography, the movie is one of the more beautifully filmed I've seen in a long time. Additionally, filmed only using natural light, it looks utterly realistic, and like Malcolm McDowell whose head was held inside a full bathtub for over a minute in A Clockwork Orange, you have to wonder how is it possible that DiCaprio was able to pull off these stunts. It's said the vegetarian actor ate a raw bison liver. Honestly, I believe it.
He is so utterly deserving of the Oscar he'll be receiving on February 28th. This isn't a lifetime achievement award like Christopher Plummer's for Beginners. This is merited. Though one of my strongest points is that we don't know a ton about Hugh Glass besides the fact that he can survive bear attacks and falling off cliffs and has Han Solo resourcefulness (think the Battle of Hoth), the physical acting in this film is indescribable. He is so convincing, so hateful and yet we get this great sensitive side to him: he truly loves his son. Countering him is the now finally Oscar-nominated Tom Hardy, playing the gruff, money-centric Fitzgerald, a key figure in the plan of leaving Glass for dead. With those eyes that can conjure up such soulless evil, Hardy uses his established movie star presence to not get us to totally despise Fitzgerald, and nearly gets us on his side before we realize how despicable he is. Domnhall Gleeson, who's been criminally overlooked this awards season for four stellar roles in three other Oscar contenders (Ex Machina, Brooklyn and The Force Awakens). He's never showy in any of these roles, but he's a welcome presence. Will Poulter is the last big name here, shedding his We're the Millers "aw shucks!" comedy persona. This kid and his eyebrows have a bright future ahead.
Like Unbroken however, I had to wonder whether all of DiCaprio's suffering was essential to the film. Some of it, of course. Nearly an hour and a half of it? Not really. I would've loved to know more about Glass and Fitzgerald. But these are mostly nitpicks. I couldn't be more excited for AGI's new movie, though he says after the production hell he went through for this film, he's not planning on another one anytime soon. The man dreams in huge scope. I also watched Babel over my winter break, and it's my favorite film of his. It looks like he's got another Best Picture winner on his hands, and while my hopes for Mad Max: Fury Road driving off with it (though Sunday's 9 Critic's Choice wins including Best Director for Miller fan my hopes) are unrealistic, what a worthy adversary to lose to. Here's to Judy, and Innáritu, and Leo's first Oscar, for making one of the most harrowing dramas of last year so investing.
Rating: 3/4 stars
Absolutely: if you don't mind a little blood. And by a little I mean one of the most violent movies I saw in the 2015 movie year, right behind The Hateful Eight but still well in front of Kingsman. It also has some shades of Angelina Jolie's Unbroken. If you hate Leonardo DiCaprio, see this movie, because you get to watch him suffer what regular people would break under: unendurable circumstances. When he's not almost mercy killed by his men he's getting buried alive. When he's not getting hurled through river rapids he's getting shot at. He is not assaulted by the Oscar-nominated (for special effects) bear named Judy, but it was one of the most intense sequences from last year's cinematic offerings. And if you like Leonardo DiCaprio, oh boy. This is one of his best roles to date.
With now six Oscar nominations under his belt, it's easy to see why we fan over DiCaprio like he's a movie god. He's not: is there such thing? But he's very selective (not Daniel Day-Lewis selective, but still) over his projects. Since the year 2000 he's worked with Eastwood, Tarantino, Scorsese, Nolan. You know why that's an impressive list? Those are all directors that you knew by just their last names. He can add another to that roster: Innáritu. Fresh off his triple-Oscar winning success of Birdman, AGI delivers another bonafide winner here. Again working with Emmanuel "Chivo" Lubezki on cinematography, the movie is one of the more beautifully filmed I've seen in a long time. Additionally, filmed only using natural light, it looks utterly realistic, and like Malcolm McDowell whose head was held inside a full bathtub for over a minute in A Clockwork Orange, you have to wonder how is it possible that DiCaprio was able to pull off these stunts. It's said the vegetarian actor ate a raw bison liver. Honestly, I believe it.He is so utterly deserving of the Oscar he'll be receiving on February 28th. This isn't a lifetime achievement award like Christopher Plummer's for Beginners. This is merited. Though one of my strongest points is that we don't know a ton about Hugh Glass besides the fact that he can survive bear attacks and falling off cliffs and has Han Solo resourcefulness (think the Battle of Hoth), the physical acting in this film is indescribable. He is so convincing, so hateful and yet we get this great sensitive side to him: he truly loves his son. Countering him is the now finally Oscar-nominated Tom Hardy, playing the gruff, money-centric Fitzgerald, a key figure in the plan of leaving Glass for dead. With those eyes that can conjure up such soulless evil, Hardy uses his established movie star presence to not get us to totally despise Fitzgerald, and nearly gets us on his side before we realize how despicable he is. Domnhall Gleeson, who's been criminally overlooked this awards season for four stellar roles in three other Oscar contenders (Ex Machina, Brooklyn and The Force Awakens). He's never showy in any of these roles, but he's a welcome presence. Will Poulter is the last big name here, shedding his We're the Millers "aw shucks!" comedy persona. This kid and his eyebrows have a bright future ahead.
Like Unbroken however, I had to wonder whether all of DiCaprio's suffering was essential to the film. Some of it, of course. Nearly an hour and a half of it? Not really. I would've loved to know more about Glass and Fitzgerald. But these are mostly nitpicks. I couldn't be more excited for AGI's new movie, though he says after the production hell he went through for this film, he's not planning on another one anytime soon. The man dreams in huge scope. I also watched Babel over my winter break, and it's my favorite film of his. It looks like he's got another Best Picture winner on his hands, and while my hopes for Mad Max: Fury Road driving off with it (though Sunday's 9 Critic's Choice wins including Best Director for Miller fan my hopes) are unrealistic, what a worthy adversary to lose to. Here's to Judy, and Innáritu, and Leo's first Oscar, for making one of the most harrowing dramas of last year so investing.
Rating: 3/4 stars
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