Director Alejandro Innaritu's follow-up to BIRDMAN (a film I really liked) is not perfect although it is big and entertaining full of breathtaking cinematography and action scenes.
What I liked - There are a number of memorable images - the 15 minute battle shot in frenetic bursts and by a spinning out of control camera between Indians and a hunting party of soldiers and scouts that opens the film, Leonardo DiCaprio being brutally attacked by a bear not once but twice, DiCaprio being sucked down some rapids as he tries to escape from Indians, DiCaprio riding his horse off a cliff into the trees below then disemboweling the dead horse and crawling inside to stay warm, the bloody knife and tomahawk fight at the end with the snow staining red....The panoramic camera angles make the best use of the breathtaking natural beauty....Tom Hardy steals the show as the villainous Fitzgerald and is deserving of a Best Supporting Actor nomination.
What I didn't like - I don't hate Leonardo DiCaprio. He's not my favorite actor but he generally picks good films to star in. I just feel he's miscast here. He doesn't look the part of a stoic supertough scout who could live off the land. Heck, he can't even grow a proper beard....The sub-plot about mistreatment of Native Canadians didn't detract from the overall story but neither did it add a lot - Felt like that should have been a different film....THE REVENANT is two and a half hours long and sometimes felt like it. In particular, I could have done without the two lengthy fever dream sequences. They add nothing to the story and are not particularly creative in how they're shot.
I would still recommend this film because it's so beautifully shot and because the action scenes are gripping and sometimes disturbing. However, it could have been better with a few adjustments (like a more fitting actor in the lead role and edited slightly).
No comments:
Post a Comment