Oscars 2016- The Revenant
Today I actually did a double review spectacular type thing by going to see two movies but I wanted to artificially pad my blog out a little bit and work is hard and super time consuming. What this means for you is that this week you get my review of The Revenant and then make sure you come back next week for my review of Room (not The Room). I plan on doing Creed in two weeks but we'll see. Right, let's watch Leonardo DiCaprio get mauled by a fake bear!
The Revenant is the story of Hugo Glass (the beloved Leo DiCap), a hunter in America during the 19th century. Winter is coming and it's all starting to get a bit cold when their group of hunters are attacked by some Indians. While on the run, our boy Hugo gets mauled by a bear and is left for dead by his crew, primarily Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy). It all goes tits up pretty much and we spend most of the film following Glass' quest to get revenge on the man who left him for dead. The story starts off simply but it evolves and I don't want to spoil it's intricacies. I'll leave it simple that it's a tale of revenge as that's the main story behind it.
Talking about the acting is unavoidable for this film. It's actually a really good cast as well. There's Will Poulter (Maze Runner, We're the Millers) as a frontiers man. He's not incredible but he does a really solid job and he's definitely going places with his acting. Fresh off Star Wars and Ex Machina, Domnhall Gleeson is here as well and he's fantastic. It's great to see some real British talent going places and standing among some modern greats. Speaking of British talent, Tom Hardy is also fantastic, playing a villain this time. What I love about his role is that despite the fact that his character always feels like a villain, there are many moments where you almost sympathise him and see his side. Unfortunately for these guys, they're all blown totally out of the water by Leonardo DiCaprio. I know people say it after every performance he makes but with this performance, I think it's the best work he's ever done. He may not be as likable as Jordan Belfort or Calvin Candie but that's not the point. For this role, he pushes everything as far as possible and I don't just mean in term of acting. The physical lengths he's gone to are commendable and personally, if he doesn't get Best Actor for this, we really should riot.
I would like to both criticise and add a word of warning: this is not a short film. This is a film that easily pushes two and a half hours and for some, it will feel long. The film does have fantastic moments of tension but many will find the moments in between slightly dull. I found that myself sometimes but I was able to sustain myself off some of the frankly phenomenal cinematography. This film is absolutely one of the best looking films of the last decade, even overtaking Birdman in my opinion. It also uses a fair few long takes as well, though obviously not as many as Birdman did. Regardless, it's not perfect. It sacrifices pace for artistic quality which actually, I think is a pretty solid decision. Look, this is a fantastic film, nits will be picked.
Look, there are two kinds of people who will see this movie and only one will enjoy it. The first are the people who've seen how many Oscars it's been nominated for, like DiCaprio or just want to seem trendy by seeing a recent film. These people will not enjoy the film. It will seem slow and the only interesting bits will be the fights. The second group of people are those who have been excited for this film for months or are seeing it because they liked Birdman and want to see more of that guy's work/they're just wanky film snobs. I hold myself in that group and that group will love this film, and agree with my score for the film of a
Talking about the acting is unavoidable for this film. It's actually a really good cast as well. There's Will Poulter (Maze Runner, We're the Millers) as a frontiers man. He's not incredible but he does a really solid job and he's definitely going places with his acting. Fresh off Star Wars and Ex Machina, Domnhall Gleeson is here as well and he's fantastic. It's great to see some real British talent going places and standing among some modern greats. Speaking of British talent, Tom Hardy is also fantastic, playing a villain this time. What I love about his role is that despite the fact that his character always feels like a villain, there are many moments where you almost sympathise him and see his side. Unfortunately for these guys, they're all blown totally out of the water by Leonardo DiCaprio. I know people say it after every performance he makes but with this performance, I think it's the best work he's ever done. He may not be as likable as Jordan Belfort or Calvin Candie but that's not the point. For this role, he pushes everything as far as possible and I don't just mean in term of acting. The physical lengths he's gone to are commendable and personally, if he doesn't get Best Actor for this, we really should riot.
I would like to both criticise and add a word of warning: this is not a short film. This is a film that easily pushes two and a half hours and for some, it will feel long. The film does have fantastic moments of tension but many will find the moments in between slightly dull. I found that myself sometimes but I was able to sustain myself off some of the frankly phenomenal cinematography. This film is absolutely one of the best looking films of the last decade, even overtaking Birdman in my opinion. It also uses a fair few long takes as well, though obviously not as many as Birdman did. Regardless, it's not perfect. It sacrifices pace for artistic quality which actually, I think is a pretty solid decision. Look, this is a fantastic film, nits will be picked.
Look, there are two kinds of people who will see this movie and only one will enjoy it. The first are the people who've seen how many Oscars it's been nominated for, like DiCaprio or just want to seem trendy by seeing a recent film. These people will not enjoy the film. It will seem slow and the only interesting bits will be the fights. The second group of people are those who have been excited for this film for months or are seeing it because they liked Birdman and want to see more of that guy's work/they're just wanky film snobs. I hold myself in that group and that group will love this film, and agree with my score for the film of a
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