What to say about The Revenant that has not already been
said? Stunning photography that takes advantage of the landscape’s big skies
and seems to come directly out of a McCarthy novel. You could walk away
thinking The Revenant is what an action
film made my Terrence Malick would look like, especially in its rare, but
beautiful dream sequences that evoke Malick’s unique way of seeing.
The performances
driven out of the actors by the brutal weather conditions have rawness to them;
they are not acting cold, soaked and filthy, they are in that state and as
their hands tremble any attempt to control them is legitimate. As he did with Birdman (2014), Iñárritu employs his
long takes and invisible cuts to good effect, not quite as he did with Birdman, but then that had a mostly
fixed location whereas The Revenant
roves. Yet, the long takes work, demanding more from his actors, who deliver,
and bringing new life to his action sequences. The three main action set pieces
are literally breathtaking and shocking in their immediacy and relentlessness.
They also make perfect use of CGI because it becomes hidden in the story,
instead of being the story.
It is a good job that
this film is impressive on so many levels and has the talent it has behind and in
front of the camera because the narrative is slim and in lesser hands, would
not captivate. Yet, like Boyhood
(2014), like Birdman, like Gravity (2013), The Revenant is a new film that is experimenting with form and the
results are worth the long running time.
