DVD Review: The Revenant
Gotta love me some crazy old Tom Hardy, but after watching The Revenant I totally understand why Leo got the Oscar, I mean, it’s pretty much his best performance to date.
The Revenant pretty much sets Tom Hardy on a collision course with Leonardo DiCaprio in this stunning Western themed survival revenge saga. A group of hunters is set upon my a group of Indians, and a few of the hunters escape with little more than their lives. With Leo being their guide, it’s up to him to find a safe route back to civilization, but along the way Leo gets mauled by a mother bear. Hardy decides Leo is as good as dead and will now only be a hindrance to their survival so elects to leave him behind, and kills his son to keep the whole thing a secret.
Of course, The Revenant would not be much of a film if Leo were to die I a shallow grave in the American wilderness, so against all odds, Leo drags his arse out of that grave and finds the mental fortitude to over come his dire situation and sets out on a journey of survival with one thing on his mind: revenge.
Now it’s hard to put down in mere words just how amazing this film is. It’s as brutal as it is beautiful, and though there are long moments where not a lot happens, the film is so mesmerizing that it just carries you along with it.
The Revenant is essentially a film of three parts, the opening, where all the players and introduced, the game is laid out for all to see, and destiny is set down for many. Then we have the story of survival, and the film accumulates with the tale of revenge.
The third act, whilst necessary for the rest of the film to work, is the weakest of the three, and it’s during this, the shortest act in the film, you get a feeling of how long and slow the film seems. But before you start crossing The Revenant off your must see list (it should be at the top) the weight of the first two acts carries the film to it’s conclusion, and keeps you hooked so you see just how the end game plays out (not how you think it does).
The Revenant is a film that I decided against watching during it’s cinema release, as it just didn’t grab me at the time as a must see film. This will go down as one of the worst decisions I have made as the film is absolutely stunning and would have been so much better to experience it on the big screen.
Rating: R16 Graphic violence, sexual violence & content that may disturb.
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