The Revenant : Movie Review

"I ain't afraid to die anymore. I done it already."

For a story based on true events, life sure put its knee right in the back of Hugh Glass, real life tracker and fur trapper, brilliantly portrayed in body and soul by Leornardo DiCaprio. And I saw what the cast meant when they would say in the promo interviews that the film was very physically and psychologically demanding. 

Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, a groundbreaker from Birdman, damn near tortures his cast and the audience in telling the story of Glass' revenge against the man who took away the one thing he had in life, John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy at his acting supreme). Set in the untamed West of 1823, it is one brutal, badass epic. Bear Grylls ain’t got nothing on this man. But along with this great story, you get to experience the power of cinema unleashed beyond any imagined limitations. Iñárritu and cinematographer Emmanuel "Chivo" Lubezki shot on locations in Canada and Argentina and the result is so relentlessly raw your eyes struggle to keep up with the level of detail in the realism of the harsh environment that these actors were working in.

After the opening sequence of our main characters being attacked by Arikara Indians, which wipes out about half the extras on screen. Glass strives to protect his half-Pawnee son, Hawk (Forrest Goodluck). After being chased off down the river, they must ditch the boat and make their way through the forest, where we see one of the best scenes in the film. 

While scouting ahead, Glass runs into two bear cubs, and as you can see the gears in his head clicking into place for what is likely to come next, the mama grizzly, instinctively defending her cubs rushes into Glass like a demon possessed. When she flips him over on his back, you can hear his bones crack. And then she comes back for more. The whole sequence is spectacular in every sense of the word. 

At the end of this struggle of survival, Glass looks rather like a hacked side of lamb. It is the job of Fitzgerald and young Jim Bridger (Will Poulter) to stay by his side, if only to give him a proper burial. Now, I’m a huge fan of the work of Tom Hardy and I can confidently say, no one does villainy with hints of humanity, like Hardy. Pleased to bury Glass alive and on route to safer ground, Fitzgerald heads off to line his pockets. But Glass won't stay buried. He drags his broken body across mountains, rivers and rapids, driven by his unbreakable spirit, seeking retribution for the evil done to him.

The movie is a right hook to the gut from a Middleweight boxing champion. You could moan and crib about the excess of carnage and lack of philosophical substance. But surviving nature in the horror that it can be, is Iñárritu's subject, and he delivers with unearthly brilliance.

This is a movie you do not want to miss, and best see it in the cinema near you that delivers great quality to enjoy the experience, that is, The Revenant.