Hello this is Jake Winters for Eye on the Triangle this is Snowverated and this week I will be taking a look at Revenant.

Since this is a much more recent film than I usually review I just want to say don’t listen to all of this if you don’t want any even the slightest spoiler because there are some very minor spoilers. I’d say that with everything said in this review you could still watch the film and enjoy it just as much. SO with that being said, I’ll start with an overview that won’t give anything away and move onto some more specific details(there still really not that big of give-aways). Revenant was essentially a survival movie but it is so much more than that. There are complicated relationships with layers and depth and the fact that the story is based on true events makes it even more believable and enjoyable. There is more than just the

DiCaprio as always does a fantastic job and with Tom Hardy as a co-star this film would have had a hard time coming up with bad acting. The funny part about the acting in this movie is that dicaprio hardly says anything. He is the main character by far but most of the acting is straight expression and movement which is such a huge challenge for any actor. He does a great job of expressing grief showing fear in his eyes and generally just acting at its core. The hardest part about acting could arguably be the unspoken and nonverbal communication aspects and he did the majority of the film with only this. Tom hardy always seems to be able to be unlikeable characters well, and maybe that’s why I don’t like him but I ant say that he is a bad actor. His voice seems a little forced to fit the role but it is not so bad that I cannot suspend my disbelief and accept it as his actual voice.

The cinematography of this film is phenomenal. The shooting of one the beginning battle scene is just so intense and enjoyable to watch. There are no cuts during the scene, similar to how birdman was entirely shot. The director of birdman, Alejandro Inarritu, and the cinematagropher of the film, Emmanuel Lubezki, both worked on this film which is probably where the ideas and style came from. Their style of filming works extremely well for a battle scene. It shows very well how battle does not start and stop as it sometimes seems that it does in some movies. It is very fluid and captures what it would be like to be there in reality well I think. This style of filming at least provides a new way to view battle. Along with the excellent filming of action scenes in this film the location of the film is beautiful, and the director did not let this go to waste. There are plenty of landscape shots mixed into the film that are truly unique and beautiful. These landscape shots do a great job of setting the film in the cold deep forest of the North American mountains and truly show how difficult survival would be there.

One criticism I have for the film is its slow start. The film sort of assumes that from the beginning you care about what is happening to this group of people. There is action and tons of excitement straight from the beginning of the film but I feel it could have been condensed and have gotten the same point across with the same effect. This amount of time though really comes from how much effort they put into the cinematography of the film so if you focus on this effect rather than on the plot from the beginning of the film and then later switch more to the plot, which really happens naturally, the film is very enjoyable.

The plot of the film is really actually pretty intricate. The story is all about honor and rightful revenge and defending what each man stands for. There are side plots and multiple conflicts that make the film more than just a man surviving in the wilderness. All of the stories layer together well to influence the protagonist and you can get involved in the side plots almost as much as the main one. A huge part of the film is the main character coming back from his injuries which seems so impossible at times but somehow the film convinces you to believe it. The coincidences throughout aren’t too impossible to believe and I think they did a great job of going far in the severity of the situations without taking it so far as to seem impossible. I do have to admit though that at certain parts, like when he falls off of a cliff it is hard to believe he ever got back up again.

I am going to give revenant a 9/10. It was rally enjoyable to watch for the whole movie for both the filming of the movie along with the actually plot. I think they could have been a little more succinct but I can’t really say there was any portion of the film I particularly disliked.

This film is only currently out in theatres as it was released on the 25 of December this year. You may have gone to see any of the other many great blockbuster films out recently in theatres like Star Wars, The big short, H8tful eight, and I could really go on. So if you haven’t gone to see revenant yet it is pretty understandable but I highly recommend you do.