The Revenant

No one does villainy laced with traces of humanity like Hardy. Pleased to bury Glass alive, Fitzgerald heads off to line his pockets. But Glass won’t stay buried. He drags his carcass across mountains, rivers and rapids to exact retribution for the evil done to him.

That’s the movie. And a visceral punch in the gut it is. You could gripe about the excess of carnage and lack of philosophical substance. But surviving nature is Iñárritu’s subject, and he delivers with magisterial brilliance. As does the haunting score by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Alva Noto and Bryce Dessner.

And then there’s DiCaprio. Hidden behind a grotty beard, his words mostly reduced to grunts, he nonetheless provides a portrait of a man in full. It’s a virtuoso performance, thrilling in its brute force and silent eloquence. Nominated by the Academy for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, The Aviator, Blood Diamond and The Wolf of Wall Street, DiCaprio is favored to win this time. But that’s not the point. His talent is. The Revenant shows DiCaprio stretching his acting muscles, testing himself, eager for challenge. That you do not want to miss.