The Revenant could have been just another ordinary movie albeit with great leads. Story-wise I wouldn’t call it anything new. There’s plenty that has been made and made well on this kind of a theme. However, where The Revenant resurrects this ordinary story line into something much more, is in the way it is presented.
I started watching this one with an air of skepticism. Birdman, Inarritu’s last outing was a little too metaphorical for my taste. With all its talk of the trees and its roots in the first 10 minutes of The Revenant I braced myself for yet another offering wherein everything would be implied and nothing would be as it seems. Turns out, I worried for naught. The Revenant is as straight as they come.
What you really come to appreciate in The Revenant is the film-making – the breath taking cinematography – each frame can be a picture postcard despite the desolate environment it captures, perfect screenplay and minimalist background score that perfectly compliments and in fact, enhances the tense visuals. Like many others, the movie is visceral and brutal in its display of violence and bloodshed (certainly not for kids). However, where it sets itself apart is that it all comes across as natural to the script, rather than forced in, just for better impact.(12 years a slave – am talking about you). The changing seasons and the impact of weather conditions is masterfully shown and you start to feel as if you yourself are out there – affected by them, battling them. Most of the time you hear nature, in all its diversity, in all its brutality and all its reality. What nature does well, the movie doesn’t spoil with background score.
To be fair, the movie also sags in parts but just as you feel you can catch a quick shut eye, it jolts you out of comfort and you spring back to attention – wide-eyed at the turn of events, that you never anticipated. Still there was potential for a 20 minutes shorter runtime.
And now the big question – will this one finally win Leonardo Di Caprio his much deserved Oscar. Well, he can win it, I mean he’s done complete justice to his character. While it isn’t all that layered a character, it would’ve taken gritty determination to shoot the scenes he has shot in the first place – maybe that alone deserves an Oscar. If I am not all that enthusiastic about him winning for The Revenant, it is because I’ve seen better work from him with much more complex characters in the past. Fingers crossed on that one.
It must also be mentioned if Leo is the central protagonist, Tom Hardy is the other pillar on which The Revenant comes to life. Barely recognizable up front, complete with his new accent, Hardy is a tour de force and even overshadows Leo in a couple of scenes. In comparison, his Bane act is pretty much amateurish and with The Revenant, he showcases how well he can get into character. This one definitely deserves the supporting role Oscar.
The Revenant then is a compelling watch that you almost start to feel a part of as you watch it. While it doesn’t resurrect anything in particular - there is good cinema for this genre already, the characters are pretty much black and white and storyline is simple – purely by its film making quality it makes sure it gets counted amongst the top lists and is one of the better offerings across 2015-16.
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