Alejandro G. Iñárritu has certainly made a name for himself over the decade after critically acclaimed hits such as "21 Grams", "Babel", "Biutiful" and most recently "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)", which won his the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. So naturally, many of us were excited to hear that his next film endeavor will star Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. Up until the release of the film, not many of us knew what the film was going to be about as the studio released two extremely vague trailers. Unless you knew the true life events of the protagonist in the film, many of us walked into the theater with a near blank slate. And was Iñárritu's latest film worth the anticipation and mystery?
"The Revenant" stars Leonardio DiCaprio, Tom Hardy and Domhnall Gleeson and is directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu. The film centers around a frontiersman in the 1820's who is left for dead by his fellow hunting party members after he is gruesomely mauled by a bear. With his dying breath, he summons the will to survive and begins a perilous odyssey to seek his revenge against the men that abandoned him in the cold winter forests. This is, without a shred doubt, one of the best films of 2015, if not the best. Even after the film ended, my body was left shaking. As the ending credits came on screen, the audience didn't even have the energy to clap after experiencing such a dreadful, visceral and disturbing film. Iñárritu has done it again with Oscar worthy performances from the film's two leads, breathtaking visuals, a haunting soundtrack and impeccable direction. Everything about this film, from the acting to the camerawork, is crafted meticulously and with great passion, which translates to a masterpiece of cinema.
After being nominated 4 times at the Academy Awards (3 for Best Actor and 1 for Best Supporting Actor), Leonardo DiCaprio was never able to receive the Oscar gold that he has always deserved, however with "The Revenant", I am confident that 2016 is the year he will receive his Best Actor award. His performance in the film never felt like a performance. Not once in the film did I ever think the man was acting. Everything that his character, Hugh Glass, goes through in "The Revenant", we feel personally because of DiCaprio's ability to transcend the silver screen and bring us raw human emotion, giving us the best performance of his career. Even with very minimal dialogue, half of which isn't even English, DiCaprio is able to bring us a strong, uncompromising character that struggles through the worst of what nature has to offer and we as the audience members are with him ever step of the way through his journey for revenge. Truly the best performance of the year. There simply was not a performance this year with more depth, pain, hardship, beauty and humanity in 2015. DiCaprio, I hope you finally take home the Oscar next year.
With "The Revenant", Tom Hardy has worked with Leonardo DiCaprio for the second time, the first being Christopher Nolan's "Inception", but this time around they have a very different dynamic. Without spoiling too much of the plot, Hardy's character, John Fitzgerald, is directly responsible for Hugh Glass' path for vengeance and he plays a conniving, short tempered, violent and ruthless man who will do anything to survive, which the audience can strangely relate to. Although he is capable of doing unspeakable things, he is someone who will survive and that is his one goal in this harsh environment, thereby making his antagonistic wrongdoings, at times, understandable (but in the worst ways possible).
While boasting beyond stellar performances from the entire cast, what shines the most, at least to me, about "The Revenant" is its beautiful cinematography done by Emmanuel Lubezki, one of my favorite cinematographers working today, who previously worked with Iñárritu in "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)". This is one of the most beautiful shot films I have ever seen as Iñárritu's love for long unbroken takes creates a haunting sense of beauty and despair. The film never shies away from the pain and the brutality of nature as DiCaprio tries to grasp onto his life by any means necessary. There were many times during the course of the film where I honestly did not know how they were able to accomplish some of the amazing shots. And many of the brutal action sequences in the film are seemingly done in one long tracking shot and it is executed brilliantly with meticulous crafting.
Iñárritu has proven himself to be a very accomplished director and his passion for filmmaking and understanding of what creates compelling drama makes this film a masterpiece. Although DiCaprio brings to us an Oscar worthy performance, the star of the film is Iñárritu. Like "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)", the writing and direction Iñárritu creates in his films allow the actors in the film to breathe and become real. His devotion to character development and deep understanding of complexity and human emotions brings the best of everyone and creates enthralling drama that deserves praise from all lovers of cinema.
What I've talked about here on scratches the surfaces of how amazing "The Revenant" truly is. More viewings of the film are definitely need to carefully analyze it in depth, however, in first viewing, this is a excellently designed feature film that pulls on your every emotions and leaves you broken in pieces. One of the best films I have ever seen and one of the best films of 2015. If DiCaprio doesn't win the Oscar for his beyond amazing performance in this film, it is a true crime to the world of cinema. Iñárritu, thank you for your amazing achievement in film that moved and destroyed me as I was exiting the theater. Such power deserves a perfect 10 and "The Revenant" of course gets a 10 out of 10 from me. If you want to see the most hard-to-watch film during one of the most festive and jolly holidays of the year, definitely head to the theaters immediately.
Go see it in theaters today!
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