The Revenant Movie Blurb by Shale January 8, 2016 If you're like me, you probably have no idea what a "revenant" is. I haven't encountered that word in my 7 decades so had to look it up. It is someone who comes back from the dead or returns after a long time. Aha! Makes sense now. The movie is based in part on a Michael Punke novel by the same name and actually comes from true events, tho with some variation for better drama. But, the part that runs true to Hugh Glass' actual life is the refusal to die in one of the most brutally hostile places in the American Northwest of present day Montana and South Dakota. The setting is 1823 and involves a party of hunters and trappers about to load up their pelts on their Missouri river keelboat when they are attacked by Arikara natives. This is the first 10 minutes of the movie and there is total violence as ppl are dying from arrows, muskets & hatchets, trying to scramble to the boat and escape. This battle scene as with all the other violence in the move is quite grafic, hence the R rating. Indian Attack by the River They lose a lot of the men and equipment but Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio), his half Pawnee son Hawk (Forrest Goodluck) their leader Captain Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson) and about 7 other men make it to the boat and escape. they land downriver and for a while set up camp before their long trek overland to their fort. Hawk ( A Misfit With Some of the Trappers) Besides the hostile natives there are other things out to kill you in this part of the world and Glass encounters a she grizzly bear with cubs that gets the jump on him and mauls him nearly to death. This is another brutal scene - there really isn't too much you can do when being chewed on and slammed around by on of these creatures. Glass Attacked by Grizzly Bear This is where the story of endurance and revenge begins. At first the struggling party tries to carry the grievously wounded and surely dying Glass with them, but it is slowing them down, so Major Henry asks for two volunteers to stay behind with Glass until he dies, give him a proper burial then catch up. Oh, they were promised extra pay to volunteer. John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) an experienced trapper and conniving dishonorable man agrees to stay along with Jim Bridger (Will Poulter) a more inexperienced teen kid. After a couple of days, Glass still breathes, even tho he is surely near death with the wounds he has, including a hole in his throat that spews blood as he breathes. The older trapper convinces the kid that the natives are coming and they have to leave Glass who is going to die anyhow. But, Glass manages to survive living on disgusting raw food and eventually heals while encountering all sorts of other near death experiences in his journey of hundreds of miles in a hostile land during winter. Leonardo Di Caprio really conveyed the steadfast survival spirit of Hugh Glass with very little dialogue in this movie other than Pawnee with subtitles as he spoke to his son. In his moments of loss, near death and fever delirium there were scenes of him and his deceased wife (Grace Dove) that seemed to keep him going. Glass & Wife This movie was well received by the aggregate critics on Rotten Tomatoes with an 80% Fresh and 87% of audiences, including me liked it. The critics consensus was: "As starkly beautiful as it is harshly uncompromising, The Revenant uses Leonardo DiCaprio's committed performance as fuel for an absorbing drama that offers punishing challenges -- and rich rewards." Watching events such as these and realizing that it actually happened makes you wonder about that overpowering will to survive. I (and a lot of other ppl from the 21st Century) would likely have just sat down in the cold and waited for hypothermia. I hear it is fairly painless once the shivering stops; just lay down and go into that deep sleep.
I just watched it and thought it was to long and slow. I had hoped for a good adventure film similar to Man in the Wilderness with Richard Harris and John Huston (based on the same historical events)...but more realistic. Man in the Wilderness was better in my opinion. This movie stunk of Bird Man. They should have thrown out the wife and son and all the flashbacks as they contributed nothing to the story. Cinematography was very good, acting good, movie was ponderous and they could have thrown in another gallon or two of blood as there was one scene that didn't contain any. Should have waited for RedBox and it would only have cost me a dollar or so.
The bear scene freaked me the eff out. Scary realistic, havent been that freaked out in the cinema like that for a long while. As for the rest of the film being a bit slow, I liked it, great landscape shots, and liked the Indian element And the first time Ive seen Tom Hardy actually act. Yes, one of the best movies Ive seen in a while too, and probably my favouriten DiCaprio film after The Departed
If you count this as 2015, which it almost was Its been an awesome year for cinema, lots of good movies came out in 2015
