The Revenant is the kind of movie that I feel warrants the title of “film” more than “movie”. Watching The Revenant can’t really be described as a fun experience, it’s not the kind of film you easily shove popcorn into your face while watching, laughing at all of the jokes and being thrilled by all the high octane action. No, The Revenant is an experience, a long, brutal, difficult to watch, but ultimately incredible experience. I must make something very clear before I explain  in more detail however, saying this film “isn’t for everybody” is a massive understatement. If you have a weak stomach, are squeamish, are bored by longer movies with long stretches of no action, or under 17 this movie is probably not for you.

That being said, I thought The Revenant was a technical achievement. It was honestly hard to imagine how a lot of the shots in the movie were pulled off. Of course the film did have the advantage of having some incredible talent behind it. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu having won the Oscar for best director last year for his film Birdman (which also took home the best picture award), as well as being lensed by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki who has won the Academy Award for cinematography the last two years in a row and has been nominated for every movie he’s lensed since 2006. To say the film is gorgeous wouldn’t do it justice. Just about every shot would make a beautiful painting and the fact that the entire film was shot using natural light (a very very tedious way to shoot a movie) as well as the impressive amount of long takes in the film makes it one that I definitely want to come back to soon just to experience it again.   

The big action set pieces in the film were visceral and intense and felt disturbingly real. This is of course in big part to the fantastic performances. Leonardo DiCaprio of course hit it out of the park, I’ll be the first to admit I used to not see what all the hype around Leo was, but as of recently he’s done nothing but great work acting wise. I actually forgot it was him at points, which is the biggest compliment I can give a big name actor. Tom Hardy was perhaps my favorite performance in the movie, using a thick prospector’s accent that served the film’s setting really well, he honestly stole the movie, and though I expect Leo to come up a lot during Oscar discussion I think Hardy might deserve one a little more for completely disappearing into his character. Domhnall Gleeson and Will Poulter also gave great performances rounding out the cast nicely.

Overall the film is pretty darn amazing. While it may not impress your average movie goer looking for a fun time at the movies, it will certainly leave any passionate fan of filmmaking foaming at the mouth with how labored over every sequence was. While a few of the flashback sequences featured in the film seemed a little unnecessary and pretentious, the vast majority of the film was absolutely fantastic.

9.5/10 Recommended to people interested in filmmaking/admirers of the art of film, who aren’t scared to sit through something a little challenging and disturbing but ultimately rewarding.