The Revenant Review

The Revenant is a fictional and fantasy retelling of the real life adventures, trials and tribulations of Hugh Glass.

First off, this is an amazing movie. The decision to shoot in natural light and in the frozen parts of Canada and Argentina totally paid off. The scenery and the scenes are beautiful and I would go so far as to say, seen in the right mind set, this film is life changing.

But this film is also not without its flaws, the story and plot take a back seat to the visuals, we get a movie which is the best thing to look at, since EVER, but its plot, pacing, dialogs everything just goes to hell and stays there.

So, is this a bad movie? Not by any means, not even close. The movie is slow, but if you are not expecting a wild action adventure, it manages to hold on to the viewers’ attention rather well.

Direction : I am not a fan of the same director’s Birdman, but this movie is his true masterpiece. There are many long takes which are unbelievable and some scenes which I have no idea how they pulled off. Many scenes are SO natural, it seems almost impossible that this is a film and they didn’t shoot the real events taking place.

Acting : Leo should get the Oscar this year. This is his career best performance. I didn’t see Leo in one single scene, he played the character so well, it felt real. At one point I found myself thinking of the snow and ice how unpolluted it must be in 1823, before snapping back to reality that its filmed in 2015. That’s how real Leo’s performance was.

Now many are saying Tom Hardy outperformed Leo, I didn’t see this happening, both did an amazing job, but no one outshines the other.

Every other actor, Gleeson or Will Poulter or anyone else are good in their roles and fit into the film rather well.

Music : Subtle and laid back, the music is done well without any particular tune or piece of music sticking to your head, the music is treated as an ambient sound in the nature.

Cinematography : The whole and soul of this film, the visuals are what make this movie. That’s the movie’s gimmick, the one thing that makes up for the lack of story, plot and dialogs. Every scene is like a painting, some scenes again, seem impossible to have been captured on camera. If for no other reason, this movie is worth watching for the visuals alone.

Summary : This movie is BASED on real incidents, but the story in the film is actually way more TAME than what happened in real life. It’s also full of mistakes and inconsistencies, Leo’s leg is shown broken, but he is never shown setting it, it fixes itself! he is shown leaving the water canteen at his grave site, but yet he has it the next day. As good as the direction is, this is abject failure of a film maker! The REAL incident happen in the prairies and grass lands, but for visual poetry they shot it in mountains and snow.

Rating: Due to its numerous flaws, the movie should be a seven, BUT due its amazing visuals and sense of visual poetry, I give this movie an 9/10.

A must see, but with low expectations of plot.