Beautiful, Brutal, and Periodically Boring
Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu knows how to make a captivating film. His Birdman engages its viewers with the raw creative energy that comes from witnessing actors performing at their peak and from taking in the breathtaking cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki. Iñárritu's latest film, The Revenant, features both of those things, but is only sparingly entrancing, offering up a predictable story stretched over two and a half hours. It's epic in scope and execution, but rather ordinary in its storytelling.
The Revenant is an adaptation of a novel based on the true story of Hugh Glass, who was a fur trapper in the early 1820s. Mauled by a bear and left for dead by his cohorts, he journeys more than 200 miles while critically injured to seek revenge. The film begins with an absolutely breathtaking attack on a hunting party (including Glass) by an Arikara Native American tribe. The whole sequence is like an early-19th century version of the Normandy invasion in Saving Private Ryan. Arrows and muskets hit their targets with realistically gory results, as long takes follow various individuals through the battle as people die left and right. It's a high point the film never quite achieves again.
Once Glass is attacked and abandoned—a sequence of events that is expected but plays out somewhat slowly—he begins his trek, and this is where the film becomes drawn out beyond the point of reason. As he journeys through snowy, mountainous terrain, there are many intriguing and brutal episodes that captivate on their own terms. However, strung together as the second act, these moments don't feel like a story advancing. In fact, there's no sense of distance or time to Glass' odyssey, and consequently there's no sense of urgency. The Revenant is essentially a revenge tale, and a confrontation between Glass and Fitzgerald—the man chiefly responsible for Glass' plight—is unavoidable. When that encounter finally occurs, it feels inevitable rather than climactic and exciting. We know Glass will get there when he gets there, and waiting for that to happen is boring.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays Glass, and though the character doesn't have a great deal of depth beyond his love for his son, DiCaprio infuses him with an intelligence and stalwart nature that make him a generally worthwhile protagonist. Tom Hardy plays Fitzgerald, and he keeps him just short of becoming a mustache-twirling villain, instead making him a man tired of the wilderness and desperate to get away. He does despicable things, but there's often a rationale behind his choices that make him an interesting antagonist.
Managing to surpass the terrific performances as the film's greatest asset is Emmanuel Lubezki's jaw-dropping cinematography. The Revenant was filmed on location using natural light, as opposed to controlled light sources, and the images Lubezki and Iñárritu conjure are truly stunning. The opening shot alone—in which the camera tracks along the flooded ground of a swamp-like area in the mountains—is amazing for its beauty and for the craft that we know is behind the shot. To produce such gorgeous imagery for two and half hours of film with this kind of technique is an achievement for the ages.
In the discussion surrounding The Revenant, the story behind the film has been more of a driving force than the film itself. Iñárritu and his crew shot the film largely in sequence—meaning scenes were filmed in the order they happen in the story, which is irregular in film production due to the logistical challenges it poses—filmed in remote areas of Canada and Argentina, and used the aforementioned natural light. On top of that, the already lengthy production (due to using the uncontrollable natural light) was stretched over several months due to weather issues. Unfortunately, that behind-the-scenes tale is more interesting than the film that was made.
Every person involved in the production of The Revenant should be commended for taking part in such a massive, ambitious film. Though the finished product doesn't deliver in the story department, The Revenant is indeed a technical masterpiece. It's worth seeing for the cinematography alone; whether or not you what to endure the brutal and boring story is entirely up to you.