The Revenant (2015) * *

Directed by:  Alejandro G. Inarritu

Starring:  Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, Domhnall Gleeson, Forrest Goodluck

The Revenant trudges toward its inevitable outcome and there is no way the payoff can equal the amount our patience was tested.    While The Revenant is beautifully crafted and technically sound, it is simply boring and repetitive for long stretches.    It takes over two and a half hours to tell a story it could have easily told in half of that time.    It is public knowledge by now how difficult the shoot was for the actors and crew involved due to the elements and a hectic schedule.    I hope for their sake there was plenty of hot coffee and warm blankets available after Inarritu yelled "Cut!"

The action and plot take place in 1820's Montana and South Dakota amidst a frigid, glum winter.   Hugh Glass (DiCaprio) and his crew of fur trappers under the direction of Andrew Henry (Gleeson) are under constant attack by Native Americans who do not approve of the trappers killing their food sources for fur to trade to the French.    The initial fifteen minutes remind us of a 19th century version of the D-Day battle depicted in Saving Private Ryan.    It is brutal and bloody, with arrows and bullets flying everywhere and little sense to the chaos.    It is effective action. 

Once Henry orders the crew back to their fort to regroup, this news is met with disdain from crewman John Fitzgerald (Hardy), who would rather keep trying to gather more fur for greater profit.    Fitzgerald doesn't like or trust anyone, especially Glass and his Native American son Hawk (Goodluck).    Glass is soon mauled by a grizzly bear and left barely alive.    Fitzgerald wants to put Glass out of his misery, but is ordered to stand down.    He feels carrying the severely injured Glass around will hinder their safety and the speed in which they can return to the fort.  

Fitzgerald and his cohort Bridger (Poulter) take matters into their own hands and bury Glass alive while killing Hawk as he attempts to save his father.    Glass is left for dead, but despite broken bones and severe wounds, he crawls out of his grave and claws his way toward the vast, cold, desolate frontier with revenge as his motivation.    Using only his wits and survival skills, plus an assist from a sympathetic Native American loner, Glass recovers from his injuries and illness to continue his quest for Fitzgerald.  

I probably made The Revenant sound more exciting and potentially explosive than it actually is.    We see Glass shiver, fall into what had to be frigid rivers and streams, and put himself through the worst pain imaginable just to survive another day to do it all over again.    We certainly can sympathize with Glass, but we are not much moved.    The payoff to all of this is an eventual showdown with Fitzgerald, so there is little doubt Glass will survive long enough to battle Fitzgerald.    The Revenant is not fun to watch.    It is even more difficult to endure.    Who wants to spend a Saturday night watching this poor guy suffer and nearly freeze to death?  

The Revenant is beautifully shot.    The frontier is cold, unrelenting, and menacing.    There are only so many ways we can see Glass battle before it soon becomes repetitive and dull.    Soon, we are tapping our foot and checking our watches wondering when Glass and Fitzgerald will duke it out already.    We know it's coming, so let's get to it.   We get the idea about all of the other stuff.

DiCaprio's performance is being touted as his long-awaited Oscar winning performance.    He went through hell with this movie and I suppose he will be rewarded for that.     But, his character is shallowly defined and DiCaprio himself has had more challenging performances than this one.    However, a good-looking guy getting ugly is one way to win an Oscar.    Same for a woman too.
The award, if he should win it, will seem more like a lifetime achievement award. 
Hardy has more lines than any other actor in the film, but his long, meandering speeches do not substitute for an actual character.    He is there to be the villain, but he never comes off as truly villainous, just scared, distrustful, and selfish.    I don't blame Hardy for this.    He does what is required and does it the best he can.    His Fitzgerald, like most of the roles here, are underwritten.  

Inarritu is more in love with the gloominess of the snowy wilderness and mountains than he is in the human element.     Dances With Wolves also had stretches of quietness and isolation, but we cared about the people so we understood it and related to it.    The Revenant is certainly not Dances With Wolves.