Oscar Optimization – The Revenant (2015) – Encore Review

Since it’s been nearly two months since I watched most of the Oscar Nominated movies, I decided to rewatch many of them and reevaluate my thoughts on these films.  I am rewatching them in no particular order.  Here are my Optimized thoughts on The Revenant:

“As long as you can still grab a breath, you fight. You breathe… keep breathing. ” – Hugh Glass

Number of Times Seen – 2 (20 Dec 2015 and 17 Feb 2016)

Link to original review – Here

Brief Synopsis – A trapper is left for dead after being attacked by a bear and tries to find a way to survive injured and alone in the wilderness in order to find the men who left him.

My Take on it – I’m always amazed at how one’s opinion of movie can change so quickly upon a rewatch.

Wen I originally saw this movie nearly two months ago, I thought the cinematography and effects were superb, but felt the story was lacking.

So I rewatched it in order to better understand why people are so enamored with Leo’s role and the movie in general.

And I’m actually happy to say that I enjoyed this movie so much more upon the rewatch that I now can accept that this is an amazingly filmed epic movie that could quite well be deserving of all of the accolades it has received over the last few weeks.

It isn’t easy to say this after my previous review of this movie, but it actually reminds me of the great epic movies of old that use to dominate at the Oscars; The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Ben Hur (1959), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Gandhi (1982), Dances With Wolves (1990), The English Patient (1996), Titanic (1997) and of course The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

The opening battle scene was amazingly done and I loved the camera work throughout and I am in total agreement with so many others that work like this shows that Emmanuel Lubezki is one of a kind and is deserving of creating an Oscar first where he can win for the third year in a row.

Both Tom Hardy and Leonardo DiCaprio give great performances here but this really is Leo’s show the whole way.  He is amazing here and eventhough I think he was better in The Departed (2006), this once again shows how great an actor he can be.

Bottom Line – Much more enjoyable during my second viewing. I now understand why so many people love this movie.  Great epic that comes close to equaling some of the great epics of days gone by. Excellent cinematography that is deserving of a three-peat for Lubezki. Excellent performance by DiCaprio eventhough it’s not his best performance. Highly Recommended!

Oscar Best Picture Worthy? – Yes. I now will feel better if this wins eventhough I still believe Spotlight (2015) is better and more memorable.  When I rewatch that one later this week, I’ll have a better idea tho.  As of now, I’ll be content if either wins, just NOT The Big Short (2015)

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia –  Shot chronologically on an 80-day schedule that took place over a total principal photography time period of nine months. This unusually long production time was due to the cold weather conditions, the remoteness of the locations and director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki’s aesthetic plan to shoot only with natural light for maximum realism. Only a few shooting hours were available every day and had to be carefully planned in advance.  (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (upgrade from original review)

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