The Revenant

Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu is definitely not short on ambition and creativity when it comes to filmmaking. Biutiful (it is spelt that way) was weird, supernatural experience as a man is haunted by ghostly images complete with a haunting Javier Bardem, and Birdman was an equally weird yet humorous depicting of a Hollywood actor come stage director trying to avoid a mental breakdown. The very next year in 2015 he would go one step further and push his crew to the limit with The Revenant.

Set in America's harsh north-western frontier during the 1820s, DiCaprio stars as real-life frontiersman, Hugh Glass, who is brutally mauled by a bear while guiding an expedition and witnesses his son's murder before being left for dead in the cold wilderness. Aware that he will die either from starvation or more likely from the native tribes, Hugh must use his desire for revenge in order to help motivate him to survive and hunt down the man responsible.

The film is as bleak as the cold and rugged frontier we see DiCaprio struggle across but Iñárritu still finds a way to make the experience compelling to watch. Using natural light for entire film can't have been a popular decision on set and the harsh filming conditions apparently resulted in a few crew members "leaving" but the end result is stunning and the film rightfully won one of its three Oscars for cinematography. Speaking of, this is also the film which finally won a gong for its leading man and having been very late to the game with seeing this, and letting the hype die down, it's very well deserved here. Granted he's been better in other films but his performance here is top-notch, as are the rest of the crew.

Fans of Apocalypto will certainly get a kick out of the film's more brutal elements but this is still very much an Iñárritu film being that it is slow at times and very artsy which will not be for all. I still found a lot to enjoy and would strongly recommend The Revenant which is easily one of the best films from 2015.