The Revenant
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Talent: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, Domhnall Gleeson
Release Date: 15th January 2016
Leonardo DiCaprio eyes that elusive Oscar as he grunts, shunts and crawls through the wilderness as legendary survivalist and frontiersman, Hugh Glass. The Revenant is a beautiful, dynamic and gruelling revenge thriller from Alejandro G. Iñárritu.
The film opens with a spectacle of fluid camera movement and soundscape trickery, engrossing you to such an extent that the harshness of its violence and gore seems at odds with the artfulness of its technique. A gruesome bear attack on Glass early in the picture wakes us as if from a dream, thrusting Glass and the audience face-first into a waking nightmare of bloody vengeance and betrayal. The film then eventually casts aside some of its more elaborate formal techniques in favour of a simpler approach before a demented conclusion: it’s a rollercoaster.
This is an example of genre filmmaking on a truly grand scale. It’s a good time for cowboys in the snow.
Words: Luke Maxwell
