If you love stories of survival against the odds, sprawling snowy landscapes, juicy raw meat, and mustache icicles, have I got a movie for you.
If you love animals, maybe not so much.
After winning little gold men for Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Picture, and Best Best Best with last year’s Birdman (one of my personal all-time favorites), director Alejandro G. Iñárritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki have returned with this year’s offering: The Revenant. As of last night, the film has already won Golden Globes for Best Director, Best Actor (Leo DiCaprio), and Best Picture in the Drama category.
If you don’t know, the word “revenant” is a cool smart word that, according to Webster, means “guy who should totally be dead but somehow came back because he’s got some unfinished business to attend to.” Think Jesus, Gandalf, or pretty much any TV character who “died” last year (speaking of Snow…).
So based on the definition of the movie title or your knowledge of the real-life person on whom it was based, you could venture a guess that nineteenth-century frontiersman Hugh Glass (played by Leo DiCaprio) probably faces death quite a bit in this movie. And you’d be right, though I couldn’t bear to spoil the details. However, if you know pretty much anything about this movie or the controversial rumor bizarrely invented by Matt Drudge that made headlines recently, you probably have at least a hunch of how that happens.
Hugh’s brush with death is only one of a handful of inciting incidents laid out in the opening first act of this 2.5+ hour long movie, and I really don’t want to speak too much about what those are, because they deserve the gravity they earn in the movie. But the gist of it is that Glass, against all odds, must survive the threat of man, beast, and ice cold nature, just to survive day by day after coming to the brink of death, making Bear Grylls look like Winnie the Pooh by comparison.
My lasting impression of this movie is that though it is overly long with a couple too many dream sequences, it’s still probably one of the most technically brilliant pieces of film I’ve ever seen. Lubezki maintains his reputation for being one of the best DPs in the business right now. The Canadian locations featured on screen are some of the most mesmerizing and transportive visuals I can remember since the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The busiest action scenes of the movie are blocked expertly and effectively, and the slower, more meditative moments are awe-inducing in their grandeur and hypnotic in their ultra-smooth slow-motion. It’s not hard to imagine this being required viewing in cinematography classes for the foreseeable future, as it’s a powerful demonstration of how to frame shots with trees, use light and darkness in a naturally lit location, and capture the world in a way that emphasizes the earth as a more memorable character than any of the human lead actors.
Another function it will probably have on college campuses nationwide: being the leading vote-getter in what to watch on manly fraternity bonding night. It’s just that kind of movie. You’ve seen this story before. There’s echoes of Gladiator and Taken here, but put through a visual filter that actually reminded me a lot of Apocalypto. It’s still a compelling and engaging story, but hardly a fresh one. You’ll probably react to and remember the many gross-out moments of the film more than you will feel attached to any of the characters. But it’s kinda fun, and it’s crowd-pleasing in the way it builds up to the end, and the fact that it looks so good and is led by such capable actors makes it a very entertaining experience.
Of course, when it comes to Oscar buzz, the acting draw is DiCaprio, and I suppose that’s appropriate, especially since he just won the Golden Globe award for the role last night. DiCaprio puts himself through some hellish stuff here, and some of his achievements are just impressively executed from a technical standpoint, rather than what he does with the character. But for me, Tom Hardy just steals this movie away as John Fitzgerald, one of the most enjoyably hateable characters of the year. There were several times I found myself wishing we could go back to watching him instead of Glass, which seems like something you don’t want in a movie starring DiCaprio. Hardy is just so much fun to watch, though, and there’s not a hint of “acting” in that guy. He is so believably nasty, racist, and dangerous in this role, making a far better villain here than he ever did in The Dark Knight Rises. Will Poulter puts in a nice performance here, too, and it’s great seeing him doing something of this caliber instead of Narnia, Maze Runner, or *gag* We’re the Millers. And of course, Domhnall Gleeson is in this movie, because he’s in every movie.
Overall, this one’s gonna get some Best Picture love, though I don’t think it’s as much of a frontrunner as Birdman was, even after the Golden Globe win. Maybe I just don’t think it deserves to, in a category that should include Mad Max: Fury Road, if the Academy gets it right. But it very well could nab Leo that elusive first Oscar win, and Lubezki may win in back-to-back years for the camera work. The soundtrack is also a powerful if supplementary force, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it get a nod. But man, we are spoiled with having Tom Hardy doing stuff right now. That guy consistently takes movies up a notch every time he shows up in them. I wish he would get some notice for this, too, but I don’t see that really happening.
Be careful where you camp and who you camp with, everyone. And tell Domhnall Gleeson it’s OK to say no sometimes. He doesn’t have to go do everything whenever anyone invites him.
McClain Thoughts 