The Revenant

 

The Revenant is a just released  American epic western adventure film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. Written by González Iñárritu and Mark L. Smith, based in part on Michael Punke's The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge, the film is inspired by the experiences of frontiersman and fur trapper Hugh Glass.  Set in 1823 Montana and South Dakota, the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Glass, and co-stars Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, and Domhnall Gleeson.

The plot is essentially a survival story under extreme circumstances which  includes mostly unfriendly Indians (with good reason), harrowing mountain terrain and raging rivers and waterfalls, not to mention fierce storms and blizzards plus a really ticked off grizzly bear protecting her cubs.  Whew!  That all that got my attention enough to make my once a year trip to see a movie.  The fact that the drama was filmed in Montana and Canada also was attractive due to my many fishing trips into those mountain environs. So how does it all add up?

The scenery/cinematography was fantastic  A+

Clothing design.  If a period setting of rags and animals skins counts  B

Acting (DeCaprio)  Lets say his moans, groans and screams under duress were quite realistic  B-

Plot:   Survival and Revenge worked here as they did in my love for the book The Count of Monte Cristo B+

Historical Accuracy    Hey the core of the story was true but a lot of legends grew up around it.  And it’s a movie…   C+

Oscar Winning movie    If this movie wins the Oscar  the competition must be really bad. But if you liked Robert Redford in Jeremiah Johnson,  Revenant is  that movie on steroids.

In conclusion   I expected Mrs. T. to close her eyes a lot and she says she did it only once.  Some thing about a misbehaving bear. Overall I'll give it a B!