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<\/a><\/p>\nIronically, Leonardo DiCaprio\u2019s performance as\u00a0Hugh Glass is the one that can make you remember how shallow the movie is. He definitely does a good job\u2014he manages to keep you interested and invested for the bulk of the 156-minute running time that\u2019s focused on him, in the same way that Robert Redford gave a silent solo performance in \u201cAll is Lost.\u201d But the best performances of the year are usually performances that convey all the nuances and complexities of the character, and Hugh Glass isn\u2019t really a nuanced or complex character. Hardy is able to squeeze every ounce of complexity that he can out of Fitzgerald\u2019s dialogue, but DiCaprio doesn\u2019t particularly do anything to transcend the lack of characterization on the page. He plays what he\u2019s told to, and does a fine job.<\/p>\n
By seeing Glass go through so much shit trying to survive, you realize the whole journey is fairly one-note. There are interesting new challenges and new survival tactics that come up throughout the movie\u2014like, of course, the scene of Glass removing a horse\u2019s organs and then curling up to sleep inside its body\u2014but the bulk of his journey is just slow recovery and the struggle to survive.<\/p>\n
Unlike Fitzgerald, there isn\u2019t much inner psychology going on with Glass. He\u2019s driven to survive by the desperate need to get revenge on the man who killed his son. He feels grief over his dead son, and the dead Native American woman who gave birth to him. That\u2019s about it, honestly.<\/p>\n
[Spoilers for the next three paragraphs.] <\/strong>If there\u2019s one central theme that \u201cThe Revenant\u201d seems to explicitly be going for, it\u2019s this idea that revenge is best left for the Creator, whether that means nature or some nebulous spiritual force like God or fate. This isn\u2019t a bad idea for a revenge thriller, honestly. The real-life Hugh Glass, after tracking down John Fitzgerald and confronting him, decided not to kill him because of the heavy penalty for killing a soldier. This could\u2019ve been incorporated well into the heavily fictionalized film to fit in with this theme of mercy and the relief of letting go of your desperate anger, but nope. Glass goes ahead and, effectively, kills Fitzgerald.<\/p>\n The most frustrating part of this isn\u2019t that Glass goes back on the lesson he heard earlier. The movie could\u2019ve easily made it appear like Glass considered showing mercy, then gave in to his anger and bloodlust. The frustrating part is that the movie acts like he is<\/em> showing Fitzgerald mercy. Sure, he shoots him in the shoulder, stabs him in the gut, and sends him downriver to a group of ruthless natives who will undoubtedly seal Fitzgerald\u2019s fate\u2014but apparently since he didn\u2019t deal the actual killing blow, he\u2019s leaving the revenge to God.<\/p>\n And then the last few minutes depict one final scene of stumbling through the forest, with Glass imagining his dead wife\u2026and, in the last shot, turning to stare straight into the camera. I gotta say, that\u2019s a pretty dumb, self-important final shot. Does it really mean anything, or does it just seem like it\u2019d be the cool, artsy thing to do?<\/p>\n Yeah, you could read more themes into the story. You could say it\u2019s about the battle between man and nature, or the fundamental cruelty of humanity, or something. But I got the same sense I got from the last Alejandro G. I\u00f1\u00e1rritu movie, \u201cBirdman\u201d: a lot of the movie seemed like it was supposed to be meaningful, but it really wasn\u2019t. I guess that\u2019s why people call his movies pretentious; there\u2019s this appearance of meaningfulness that the movie itself doesn\u2019t actually back up.<\/p>\n Still, if all of I\u00f1\u00e1rritu\u2019s movies are<\/em> that way, like I said, this one does a pretty great job of maintaining the illusion. There\u2019s a lot of people who are responsible for that; the production design, costume design, makeup, and visual effects are all pretty perfect. I mean, that bear attack alone is worth some recognition.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n