Preface

• In one of my most anticipated fall movies, The Revenant is from Alejandro Iñárritu, the director of Birdman, and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy.
• And this movie is ultimately a survival story of DiCaprio’s character left for dead by Hardy’s character set on the 19^th century frontier.

Review

• Now let’s start off with that premise for a minute, because the plot and script is the thing that I had a problem with in this movie.
• And usually I won’t start with negatives, but in this case it should be recognized right away.
• This movie has been pitched to you as like a frontier action movie or revenge story, but it really isn’t.
• This movie is 2.5 hours and about 2 of those hours is DiCaprio surviving in the woods.
• It’s much more of a survival story than a revenge story.
• That being said, the revenge part is the coolest part of it, because these characters playing off of each other are SO fascinating.
• You have DiCaprio who’s a family man, a navigator, and ultimately knows his stuff.
• Then you’ve got Hardy, who’s trying to prove himself but doesn’t feel like he should have to.
• Seeing those ideologies clash at the very beginning and the very end is just unbelievable.
• And both DiCaprio and Hardy show off their acting chops in this movie. I may be in the minority, but I’d even say that I liked Hardy more than DiCaprio.
• That being said, DiCaprio goes through this really mind-blowing and harsh journey that is insane to watch.
• The journey is a bit too long in points, but it shows off what DiCaprio has as an actor.
• But the real star of this movie is one we haven’t gotten to yet.
• Alejandro Iñárritu.
• This man is going to be in Hollywood for a LONG time.
• I think he’s won the Best Director Oscar, even if the movie overall wasn’t OUTSTANDING.
• This movie was shot in all natural light, with no lighting crews or anything.
• And you can tell from one of the first shots in this movie when you see a river and it looks like a real river, not just a cheap river created on a sound stage.
• That feel adds a lot to the movie, it puts you in this place. Iñárritu also gets great performances out of his actors, as I already said, and continues to use long shots like he did in Birdman to tie those two elements together well.
• So guys, in the end, The Revenant wasn’t as GREAT as I hoped it would be, it’s definitely slow at times and can have time shaved off.
• The long runtime does allow for DiCaprio, Hardy, and especially Iñárritu to show off their skills though, and each is fantastic.
• I think this is a movie you’ll hear a lot about at the Oscars and that Iñárritu has Best Director in the bag.
• And I would say that The Revenant is Awesome and Worth Checking Out Multiple Times.

***

So guys, those are my thoughts on The Revenant! Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments down below, I know this movie isn’t out in wide release yet, but check it out when it is! And as always, thanks for reading guys.