Leonardo DiCaprio earned his place among the greatest actors of his generation way before what I personally consider his best performance of all time. This performance was his character as Hugh Glass in his most recent movie The Revenant.
Can I just say that Leonardo was unbelievably great in this movie? Since before The Great Gatsby or even Wolf of Wall Street, the fans have demanded that the man be given an Oscar. I’d like to have undaunted faith that this movie is Leonardo’s Oscar.
Hardly any words on his script, Leonardo was left to do the most challenging task an actor will ever have to face. A challenge that puts an actor’s skills to the ultimate task. Can you act and make us feel the emotions you are portraying without saying a word? Is your acting beyond the tone in your voice as you express a feeling? And I must commend Mr. DiCaprio for surpassing the level of expectation we have for an actor that’s put to that ultimate test. He didn’t have to say much, but every emotion was vividly and utterly presented. He called for a standing ovation once the credits started rolling.
The gruesome attack by the bear was probably the most traumatizing sight I’ve seen on screen since I outgrew horrors. The beast brutally scratched deep, digging into Leonardo’s back and his acting on that scene was as real as you would be if you walked outside and got aggressed by a bear. The screaming, the pain in his eyes, the pain in his voice, the horror, the frantic attempt to escape the bear and fright on his face were all as real as “this sh*t is happening for real.”
Broadly speaking, this is a movie that shows off a brilliantly selected cast with the steering of the masterful director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Tom Hardy as John Fitzgerald continues to flaunt his enthralling ability to be such a memorable villain. His character in The Revenant was such a wicked, egocentric and covetous man, a role Tom absolutely owned. His malicious nature and lack of remorse make you hate his character and for me, that’s the epitome of fitting into a role. If you can make the audience hate you for the character you are portraying, you did what you were paid to do.
The Revenant is a movie that captures your undivided attention right from the start. You can’t help but apprehensively look forward to what happens next. The sadness, the anger and the vengeance in his eyes when Tom Hardly kills his son takes you from the edge of your seat to the floor for you’d be thinking that that level of wrath will lead to some sort of miracle. You desire for Leonardo to get up from that sick bed and drive a dagger through Tom Hardy’s chest and stab him unceasingly even moments after he has died. This doesn’t happen, though; he stays there helplessly unable to help his son, but this is the beginning of what drives his retribution. What follows next is the story of a man who was buried alive and returns from the dead seeking revenge (thus the title).
The whole cast absolutely brought their A game. They delivered an excellent end result worthy of all the glory it has been rendered. The story is trancing, the suspense and intensity induce nail-biting, the dialogues are precise and well written and the whole movie was packaged and delivered well. Leonardo in The Revenant is a man who has nothing to lose but everything to fight for.