Revenant... review.

[MikeK]

Briefly stated, it is entertaining. A bit too long, weak in the plot department, imposingly overdone in places and stretches credibility almost to the level of a Superman flick. But I like outdoor adventure films and this one is well worth watching.

 

[MikeK]

Tom Hardy is really making his mark the past couple years.
I loved the movie Lawless.

Tom Hardy was excellent in The Drop and he was very good in 44 Children. He has a certain Brando quality.

 

[MikeK]

Agreed on the cinematography, but not the movie. It was slow, boring, and long. Decrapio said about a dozen words the whole movie (a bit of an exaggeration). The numerous scenes of his facial expressions, were more than I could stomach.

I noted some dozen historical errors in the film...and found it as you did.

In terms of technical accuracy this movie would be disappointingly overdone to an historian and a general medical practicioner.

 

[hjmick]

Damn shame they didn't stick to the historical facts of the incident and Glass' background. Still would have been a tale worth telling.

 

[MikeK]

We just watched it tonight and thought it was excellent. For those who care, the animal action was all computer generated but the conditions were real and apparently utterly miserable.

I was wondering how they managed the bear attack scene. I was not aware computer gimmickry has reached that level of sophistication.

Interestingly, it was to be shot in Canada but they had a warm spell and they had to move to Argentina! for the snow.

I'm glad I didn't know that before watching the movie. Because I am partial to the historical mystique of the Northwest Territory and knowing it was filmed in Argentina would have been disappointing.

DeCaprio was very good, especially since he was unable to talk due to injuries. Much of his character had to be conveyed by his face. He nailed it.

I like DeCaprio. He's a good actor.

He's vegetarian but he did eat real liver and real fish because he didn't want to "call it in" - not his words but apparently his ethic. They also made it quite accurate, historically.

You mean they could fake the bear attack but not that raw fish scene? He actually ate a living fish? Now that is extreme Stanislovskian method.

All the way through - all I could think was that I would not have survived a tenth of what his character did.

I don't think any living creature could. Much too much consecutive trauma and prolonged exposure.

The book is also excellent although the movie is only partially based on it.

I've only read one book on this theme. It was The Last Hunt and it was back in the mid-50s. They made a movie with that name and it was a total disappointment. Nothing at all like the book.

The best movies on this theme I've seen are, A Man Called Horse and Jeremiah Johnson. It's a good theme, so if they keep trying they might hit all the right notes.

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

Movie "looked" nice but after the opening I found it to be a snoozfest

 

[MikeK]

Into the Woods: Forest Frigid

It must have been the influence/impact of Thoreau's Walden that brought attention to post-Industrialization angst-related 'forest consciousness.' Such was the inspiration perhaps for Earth terrain/forest adventure films such as Pathfinder and Jeremiah Johnson.

I think The Revenant does a nice job in presenting the visual mysticism surrounding the trekking involved with the American frontier, and the storyboarding lends itself nicely to bold character interpretations which gives Leo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy, two talented actors, a chance to showcase their self-presentation skills.

While some of the action seems a bit overly elegiac, I think this film is a nice achievement for the director and DiCaprio (who finally won his first Oscar), and it stirs up new interest for forest/terrain fantasy/adventure films.

By the way, has anyone seen the new film The Forest (about strange perspectives in a spooky forest in Japan where people go to commit suicide)?

I haven't seen The Forest because the brief informational clip I read made it seem like something I won't be interested in. But I'll watch it when it comes around now.

Thanks for the interesting review.