“As long as you can still grab a breath, you fight. You breathe…keep breathing.”
If you were to walk up to the average man or woman on the street and asked them to name one of the best actors working, the name Leonardo DiCaprio would be perfectly acceptable. He has had some memorable performances in his career, but he hasn’t had that one that got him that little gold statue named Oscar. It seems you have to play a certain type of role to take that covenant guy home, and with DiCaprio’s latest acting choice, he might have found the one to get him the gold.
The western is enjoying a good year, with films like “Bone Tomahawk” and “Hateful Eight” everything is dandy at the Ok Corral. “The Revenant” is not your “meeting in the center of town at sundown” kind of western, but instead something much more grittier. Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCapario) is a scout, who with his son is leading a group of fur traders on an expedition. After surviving an attack by natives, Hugh takes the survivors through the woods to escape those that are pursuing them. While taking that route, Hugh stumbles upon a bear where he is attacked and is left for dead. When the group leaves him behind with an even smaller group, John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) thinks its best to put Hugh out of his misery. Hugh’s son does not agree, and while protecting his father, is killed instead. Hugh starts to recover, and seeks out to find Fitzgerald to revenge his son’s death braving anything the world throws in front of him.
While from the trailer you might think this the story your father used to tell you about how he had to walk in the snow, it is not quite that. Instead what most people recall about what they know about this movie is the bear attack in the trailer, that doesn’t do the scene justice. DiCaprio gives his all for this performance, one that is mostly physical, and all together amazing. With such a performance, you had to find the right actor who can not only hold his own, but command your attention as well. Hardy does that and more, as he often makes you think it’s his performance that makes any film better. Written by Mark L. Smith and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, the later also directing, the pair craft something for the screen that is satisfying for all your senses. Throughout it all, you rarely feel the film’s two and a half hour run time go by. This film though doesn’t just look good, but the little things are what take it over the top, add to it the phenomenal visuals, and you have a film that will have a big presence at this year’s award shows. “The Revenant” is as beautiful and compelling making this one story about having to walk barefooted in the snow worth enduring.
