[perfect_rovian_storm]

It was a hell of a lot better than Hateful Eight. That’s for sure.

[RIghtwardHo]

Huh.

I didn’t like it. I realize I’m in the minority, but the only thing I liked was the cinematography.

Oh well. To each his own.

[ifinnegan]

Thanks for the review.

[Jagdgewehr]

Being a student of American frontier history, there was a lot to appreciate for me. The Hugh Glass story has always fascinated me. Of course, Hollywood deviated from the true story. Nonetheless, I found the movie satisfactory and could imagine elements of the movie may have portrayed Glass’ ordeal well enough.

[libertarian27]

Quentin Tarantino said The Revenant was his favorite Christmas movie?
I’d figure he’d say that The Hateful Eight would be that.

[nathanbedford]

My review from January 17,

I did not much like the film but I concede that it will perhaps prove a turning point for the genre like Shane, High Noon and many John Ford westerns. Still, I did not like the film.

There are two scenes which will revolutionize the Western genre, the Indian attack and the bear attack. Additionally, the movie is grand in its depiction of the landscape but that of course had already been done a half a century earlier by John Ford.

These considerations are visual rather than storyline but the cinema is after all a visual experience and advances in that experience are noteworthy and should be acknowledged.

The storyline in the movie is weak, the vapid spiritualism in the movie is misplaced, the motivation of Hugo Glass for revenge is contrived or at least I thought so since I knew the true story of this extraordinary and epic journey and I know that it had nothing to do with the murder of Hugh Glass' son so perhaps I was put off by this dramatic contrivance.

My review from January 17,

The art of screenwriting, it seems to me, is to present the character with a series of circumstances which forces him to draw deep within himself and risk everything to overcome the obstacles put in his path by the storyline. The storyline in this movie is really a man motivated by revenge but the screenwriter, it seems to me, tries to relieve that arid motivation with contrived scenes of Indian spiritualism and the normally politically correct portions of the evil white man.

It is the motivation that the moviemakers get wrong and it is the gratuitous political correctness concerning Indians inserted into the film that distort the pristine story.

See the movie, it is a turning point in Western films because of the virtuosity of the technology in depicting the bear attack and to a lesser degree the scope of the cinematography. Not since Jaws have we seen such a turning point of this particular cinematic action.

[dfwgator]

[ebshumidors]

I saw it. Hard men living hard lives. About an hour too long and nobody to cheer for.

[maine-iac7]

I was disappointed - right off the bat - the whole thing was filmed in the harshest of winter weathers - they even went to to the South Pole to shoot some winter scenes.

It seemed they were more preoccupied with filming these winter scenes than telling the story...Maybe should have made a separate documentary for that?

Besides, the actual story wasn’t in winter - Grass got attacked by the bear in AUGUST. Seems it would’ve taken less money and far less stress on the actors to’ve filmed it in the proper context.

And the ending was off track - no base commander would’ve gone off to hunt down a killer without a group of soldiers - besides, the killer didn’t get killed. He joined the army, making it a hanging offense to kill him.

I prefer, if someone is going to use someone else’s work - the original book - and a true story - for them to stick closer to it. Or else write their own story instead of piggybacking off someone else’s work. . Otherwise, it’s like painting a copy of the Mona Lisa - and presume to improve upon it.

I like the original movie of the Glass saga better - with Richard Harris -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltyvk_TX_D4

[BenLurkin]

In related news:

Hitler Declared He Wanted to Free Humanity From “Conscience and Morality”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3390659/posts

[R_Kangel]

..... The Revenant was basically nothing more than a remake of “Man in the Wilderness” with Richard Harris and John Huston.