Leonardo DiCaprio plays fur pelter Hugh Glass who guides a team lead by Captain Andrew Henry (played by Domhnall Gleeson) through the unsettled wilderness of the Louisiana Purchase. That team includes Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, and a host of awesome other actors. As the team gets further in they must brave the elements of winter and wilds of the woods. One such trek sees a momma bear thinking Hugh is attacking its cubs...so it attacks Hugh. It's a vicious, ferocious, gut turning fight that happens not ONCE but TWICE and leaves Hugh BADLY injured (when I mean bad I mean baaaaaaaaaaaaad like Donald Trump's toupee bad). The crew tries to forge ahead with him at their side, but soon must decide whether to keep Hugh or leave him as dead weight. Captain Henry decides to have three men volunteer to stay with Hugh until he dies then catch up later. Three do and so begins the tale of revenge. I won't spoil the plot, but let's just say Hugh is justified in seeking revenge.
My only problem is movies today have this habit of following "The Sopranos" lead by giving an unsatisfying, abrupt ending. This movie is no exception. The ending was pure crap and could've been 100000000000% better. Still I refuse to base an entirely fantastic movie on its ending.
Leo and company knock this one out of the park. Leo as an actor went through EVERYTHING an actor's character can go through save for being raped. This man endured the aforementioned bear attack twice, starvation, sleeping in the carcass of a horse, eating raw fish & buffalo, falling off a cliff, being swept downstream in a water current, and more that I can't even fit in this review. I was wrong and I admit it. Eddie Redmayne will not win Best Actor. But if Leo DOESN'T win the Oscar (like I predicted he would for The Wolf Of Wall Street) the Academy is bullshit. Seriously. I still cannot believe he was Luke on "Growing Pains." He's a living legend, and I love that I've seen his journey from the beginning. 2016 will be Leo's year and this is the vehicle. If Sylvester Stallone wasn't in Creed (a critics & awards show darling right now), Tom Hardy WOULD win Best Supporting Actor everywhere. He was nothing short of amazing.
Oh I did have another complaint...what the hell was with the long shots of trees, water, and rocks? Yes you wanna get a Cinematography Oscar, but it did not help the story. I was so lost on the relevance of showing this. When "My Best Friend's Wedding" came out PJ Hogan said "the boat with Julia Roberts & Delmot Mulroney going under a bridge signified their relationship changing." That was the first time I "got" what directing was. And listening to "Twilight: New Moon" with commentary Chris Weitz said "Jacob is literally in a dog position over Alice's shoulder outside the car because she called him a dog." I did NOT get the trees shot to the story.
Go see this movie on the big screen. It's worth the price of admission.