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Lets not be under any illusion here: hype kills . The more something is banged on an out, the more disinclined the public are to like just about anything and The Revenant is quite possibly the most hyped movie of the year, with the exception of Star Wars and all the other glossy comic book fables.
In 1823, a fur trapping expedition in the American Midwest is attacked by Native Americans. Trying to reach safety, Hugh Glass – an absolutely imperious Leonardo Di Caprio – is attacked by a fierce grizzly bear protecting her cubs and, subsequently, is left for dead by those left behind to care for him.
As the saying goes, revenge is a dish best served on the chilly side of freezing and what makes The Revenant so bloody brilliant is that, between the blood, the gore, the physical and visceral assault on the senses that Inarritu provides, there still remains a story which is ostensibly about mere payback, but also a metaphor of hopes and dreams and trust and life and death being crushed.
Is it original? Not really and there are more than a few nods towards other successful Oscar winning movies. The opening assault it right out of Saving Private Ryan, Glass’s frequent dream sequences all smack of being an homage to Gladiator and the culminating fight scene reverberates in unabashed seriously overstated glee of Monty Pythons Black Knight in Holy Grail. A mumbling brooding Fitzgerald played with typical brilliance by Tom Hardy may well have benefitted from a happy moment by screeching “it’s only a flesh wound” but, sadly, it just wouldn’t have worked here.
Yet what makes this film work is not its overt originality or lack thereof, but rather that everything is done with almost unique honesty and almost tangible effect. We feel the bear’s claws ripping Di Caprio to shreds as much as the heartbreak of the magnificent Will Poulter who plays the naïve Bridger with grace, power and skill that might so easily be overlooked in the company of two heavyweights such as Leo and Tom.
Then as if this wasn’t enough, there are the cinematography, the music and the out and out dynamism of the effects which are all, quite literally on occasion, spellbinding to the extent where you feel like screaming at the screen in warning or admonition or both.
Is it, as some have said, Pain Porn for the emasculated? Don’t care. Is it misogynistic? No, but wouldn’t care even if it was given the era in which it is set and with so much realism on display. Is it worthy of the hype? All day long and twice on Sundays and if this is a movie purely and pointlessly about retribution as some others have written, whip up the chiller cabinet and bring me more because this is as cold and dark and utterly unmissable as it gets.
The Revenant
Certificate 15
Director: Alejandro González Inarritu
Cast Includes: Leonardo Di Caprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, Domhnall Gleeson
Running Time: 156 Minutes
Rating: *****