By Beth
As a film student, I feel like the only thing I've heard for the past month or so has been "The Revenant", "The Revenant", "The Revenant". Virtually everyone I know has told me about how much they love this film and can't believe I still hadn't seen it, so when the opportunity finally did arise for me to go and watch it I knew I couldn't put it off any longer.
When watching the trailer I was captivated by the epic feel of it but had been put off by the film's almost 3 hour run time. I'm really not a huge fan of long movies because no matter how good they are, there's a 99% chance I will fall asleep! Unfortunately The Revenant is part of that 99% - but more on that later!
When the film begun I realised why there's such a hype for it. It is visually stunning with the landscape shots in between scenes just getting more and more breathtaking as the film went on. I loved it even more when it started to snow because there's such a beauty and fragility to it like nothing else. I can see why this film is so exciting and inspiring to my film school friends, especially the ones with a keen interest in cinematography.
It took a while for me to understand exactly what was going on in the story apart from people killing each other and stealing their "pelts". I soon realised that this film was not going to involve a hell of a lot of talking, which for a writer is something hard to get on with straight away. However I think the lack of dialogue was necessary for many parts of this film and not only represents the spectacular story telling talents of Alejandro González Iñárritu, but also highlights the universal struggle which is survival. Anyone could watch this film in any language and come away with the same feelings and understandings than if they had watched it in their own language and that is something to be highly commended and aspired to.
Now you may have noticed in my title I labeled this film a "snooze fest" Not because I didn't enjoy it, or because I didn't appreciate it but because it was just way too long. While the scenes of Leonardo Di Caprio surviving on his own, fueled only by his burning need for revenge were incredible, I couldn't help but just wish for the character to die at some points so we could wrap this whole thing up and go home. There were parts where I literally couldn't believe he had survived, I'm actually worried what Leo will do next if he doesn't win that Oscar. He slept in an animal carcass, ate raw, live fish and gave the performance of a life time. Seriously what more has a guy got to do? These scenes definitely could have been shorter though, in fact the entire film could have been done in two hours and created the same effect if not more. Half way through I really did lose interest and found myself falling asleep until a loud "BOOM" in the soundtrack shocked me awake.
Di Caprio isn't the only actor to be commended in this film though. Of course I couldn't go this whole review without mentioning my fave Tom Hardy. I think my friend and follow Tom Hardy lover put it best: "He made me hate him". It takes incredible skill to make fan girls like us feel pure hatred for the guy but he did it. The only criticism I would have against Hardy would be his terrible accent which at times I couldn't understand at all. Another great actor of the moment is Domhall Gleeson. I first saw him in Ex Machina which in someways is a million miles away from this film and this character, however you could also argue that in this film his caring nature (his father was a doctor and he tries to help many of the characters who become injured) and willingness to protect people ultimately ends up in (SPOILER ALERT) his demise.
Overall this film was incredible but I feel like it is something that needs to be seen in the cinema to be fully appreciated and to stop you from ending it half way through. It wasn't my normal type of film and due to its long run time I'm not sure if I'd watch it again, but I did enjoy it and have to give it 5/5 stars.
Let me know what you thought about this film and if you agree that it was too long or if you were hooked for every single minute!
Image Sources:
http://nerdist.com/review-leonardo-dicaprio-goes-all-in-for-brutal-the-revenant/
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/dec/04/the-revenant-review-gut-churningly-brutal-beautiful-storytelling
http://variety.com/t/alejandro-g-inarritu/
http://thefilmstage.com/news/tom-hardy-talks-wrestling-with-alejandro-g-inarritu-on-the-revenant-set-as-new-images-arrive/
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