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| Courtesy of 20th Century Fox |
Leonard
DiCaprio has been chasing after an Oscar for years, to no avail. For whatever
reason, the Academy either wasn’t buying what he was selling or he’s had the repeated
misfortune of competing against actors delivering better or more popular
performances. But Leo might be in luck this time around. This year’s Best Actor
race is one of the weakest in recent memory and his “look how hard I’m trying!”
work in Alejandro G. Inarritu’s frontier adventure The Revenant seems to be
hitting at just the right time.
Loosely
(and I do mean loosely) based on a true story, the film centers on fur trapper
Hugh Glass (DiCaprio), who is brutally attacked by a bear and left for dead in
the middle of the frozen wilderness by two members of his own expedition (Tom Hardy
and Will Poulter). Throughout the winter, Glass drags himself across hundreds
of miles of dangerous territory in search of revenge.
From
a visual standpoint, The Revenant is absolutely stunning. Cinematographer
Emmanuel Lubezki shot the entire movie using only natural light, a lengthy and
arduous process to be sure, but the result speaks for itself. Lubezki won
back-to-back Oscars in 2014 and 2015 for his work on Gravity and Birdman, and he’s got a real chance of making it a three-peat.
Inarritu
ensures the film’s many action sequences are brutal and compelling, particularly
the jaw-dropping opening sequence featuring a shockingly violent Native
American attack. It made me wish the director would’ve steered the story more
toward its pulp sensibilities. It’s when he lives up to the most frequent
criticism about his work – all style, very little substance – that the movie
stumbles.
As
for the cast, Hardy and Poulter are the standouts. Their characters are both
party to a morally bankrupt decision, and the actors do a fine job of conveying
the motivations and psychological consequences that accompany such a choice. Domhnall
Gleeson is also quite good as the de facto leader of the fur trappers; I just
wish he had more to do.
DiCaprio’s
performance might be earning praise from other critics, but it left me cold (no
pun intended). He might be the Best Actor frontrunner, but that seems to be a
case of “he’s due” more than his actual work in the movie.
At
no time during The Revenant did I see Hugh Glass struggling to survive in the
wilderness. Instead, I saw DiCaprio desperately trying for an Oscar by growing
a scraggly beard, gritting his teeth, grunting a lot and speaking a different language.
He might get his trophy, but it doesn’t equal a successful performance.
Sadly,
the screenplay (credited to Mark L. Smith and Inarritu) constantly feels at war
with itself, as evidenced by the film’s 156-minute running time. The story
wants to be a rip-roaring adventure yarn (and it’s phenomenal when the film
leans in that direction), but Inarritu keeps undercutting his own work by
trying to make it plodding, pretentious and morose.
It
seems like Inarritu’s success with last year’s disappointing Birdman taught
him all the wrong lessons about filmmaking. In The Revenant, he doubles down
on everything that bugged me about his last effort. Fortunately, not even he
can strip the excitement from bear attacks and mountain men fighting to the
death.
The Revenant is rated R for strong frontier combat and violence including gory images, a sexual assault, language and brief nudity.
Grade:
B
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