The Revenant

"As long as you can still grab a breath, you fight. You breathe...keep breathing." - Hugh Glass

release year: 2015
genre: drama
viewing setting: home Bluray, 11/28/16

synopsis: In the wilderness of 1823, a tracker is mauled by a bear and left for dead...but he finds the will to survive and chase down the man responsible.

impressions: This is a nasty movie...as grim as it gets. Within the first few minutes, there's a bloody battle, and things just get worse from there. This is the frontier of pre-civilized America, where life is cheap (and short) and can change - or end - in an instant. This was a powerful movie, but I can't say that it was entertaining or re-watchable; it's just that nasty. Nasty environment, nasty people, and so on. In particular, the bear mauling was as sudden as it was vicious. Also, there were some elements that just didn't seem necessary (the entire confusing subplot about the Arikara chief's daughter, for example.) I'd accurately sum this movie up as "evidence why it sucked to be in the frontier in the early 1800s."

acting: Almost everybody has beards, which makes it difficult to tell characters apart, especially in battle scenes. Leonardo DiCaprio does a great job as a man who loses everything, yet uses that to push himself to live and seek revenge. Tom Hardy is just plain nasty as a bigoted, moral-lacking, treacherous villain. Domhnall Gleeson is the officer in charge of the scouting trip, who always tries to do the right thing. Will Poulter is a young kid who shouldn't be out in the wilderness.

a more humorous view of these events: http://www.badassoftheweek.com/glass.html

final word: This is good evidence of why it sucked to live and work in the pre-America wilderness.

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