“The Revenant” has Oscar-worthy performances, not the best film

One of the most talked about Oscar Nominees for Best Picture of 2015 is now out in theaters everywhere. Ironically, Director Alejoundro Gonzalez Irritu won the award to his other movie Birdman. The real question is what made “The Revenant” worth the nomination. The movie has a lot more to offer than Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy’s stellar performances. The movies is incredibly engaging at times, however its 156-minute length takes a toll on the viewer and makes it hard for me to say it’s the best movie of the year.

Emmanuel Lubezki does an amazing job with the cinematography. The wide varying landscapes of Canada, among the other spacious gorgeous views leave the audience in awe. You see a vast array of rivers and sunsets contrasted with mountain ranges, huge snow covered plains that lead into the thickest pine forests. The cinematography can be summed up as breath-taking.

On top of this, the movie leaves the audience gasping and some of the horrific violence. The movie is extremely gory, and realistic. Within the opening scenes, you see multiple fatal injuries, such as an arrow through a trapper’s throat. The movie continues to push with multiple scenes with gutted animals, blood-covered men, and raw meat for dinner. If these hunting and survival norms don’t bother you, wonderful. You may want to be cautious of the gruesome and quite shocking injuries that Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) sustains throughout the movie. If you think a bear attack is bad and gory, oh my, you’ve no idea what follows. With these two main points being the basis for its nomination, is the movie actually good?

The Revenant in short is not a movie for the weak stomached, or weak-hearted. It is entertaining, and does have some amazing performances from both DiCaprio and Tom Hardy, who plays the villain, Fitzgerald. However, the recurring themes and views start to drag on after you pass the 2 hr 10 min mark. These long, drawn out, pointless periods make the audience almost disconnect from the story. For these reasons I’d give this movie 7/10.  Leonardo might deserve on Oscar, but “The Revenant” is not the best film of 2015.