The Revenant Review

That was a very tense, exhausting trip into the Frontiers of the West in Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s latest film to come out for the holidays during awards season called The Revenant.  This is the anticipated follow up from the director’s previous work Birdman: And The Virtues of Ignorance and it is most likely the most beautifully shot cinematography that encapsulates the cold, harsh environment of this time period as well as Leonardo Dicaprio’s journey as the fictionalized real life person Hugh Glass’ journey to attain vengeance towards the man who left him for death and killed his son.  It is also a tortuously brutal, unforgiving revenge tale that is both emotionally and physically harrowing to sit through that it is more about the emotions of the actions rather than the story itself that drives the film forward.  This is not an easy film to watch as well as being a slow burner of a journey for a film that is more technically impressive than from a narrative perspective. There are some truly inspiring qualities to it from the phenomenal performances from the leads and supporting cast as well as the camera work, art direction, and musical score that really creates an experience that is unlike anything we have seen in quite some time.  So why is this a film that is both beautifully composed yet frustratingly brutal in its content and pacing? Let’s get into it! 

The story takes place during the times of lawlessness in the Frontiers of the West with the guide/hunter Hugh Glass (Leo) and his son Hawk (Forrest Goodluck) working with the hunting party lead by Captain Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson) with his group of armed mercenaries working to get hide skins and leather for trade as well as profit.  One day, an attack occurs that nearly wipes out the majority of the group, leaving the survivors on their own.  Glass eventually gets wounded by the brutality of a bear attack and is left for death by John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) while he kills his son in the heat of the moment to silence him.  After some time has passed, Glass awakens from his near death state and crawls, runs, and commits himself to this long journey through the wilderness in search for vengeance against the man who took way his son, the one last thing that made him human.  He becomes an embodiment of a Revenant (an undead spirit risen from the dead) in search of justice and atonement within the Frontiers of the west.

It is a rather simple tale of revenge and survival in the wilderness of old America that is stretched out to an extremely long length that could make or break this film for those that see it in theaters.  Most of the character development comes from the subtle, sometimes harsh actions that each one does to survive in this environment, leading to much of the story being told visually rather than through dialogue (which is surprisingly sparse throughout the runtime).  It does lack any sense of structure seen in other films and it is driven more by emotions and the journey itself rather than engaging the viewer to the struggles of Glass seeking vengeance.  There needed to be some more time spent to really understand emotionally the needs of Glass seeking justice towards his son's murderer and forgiveness for the blood he spilled to protect his family. This is still a harrowing survival story of Glass braving the wilderness of the frontiers and it is most effective when it is about the adventure rather than the motivations or resolution to this dark, grimy tale of revenge.

This is supplemented by stellar performances from the leads themselves particularly Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy.  DiCaprio brings in a truly revelatory performance, conveying the hardship, sorrow, desperation, and anger with his looks and silence.  He brings his best to this role and it shows as he truly makes you feel sympathy and empathy for the actions he commits for revenge.  Tom Hardy is also fantastic as the pragmatic opportunist John Fitzgerald, with his reasons to leave Glass behind to avoid the dangerous elements of the frontiers catching up to them.  Even Domhnall Gleeson provides a very stern, tense performances for a character that is perhaps the only moral/honourable one in the cast of characters.  The entire cast’s absolute dedication and fiery performances elevate the rather simple, thin story and narrative structure to magnificent heights to create a sense of survival that has not be portrayed this way in quite some time in cinema.

Where the film truly shines and falters at times is in the technical aspects of the film with cinematography, editing, score, and set/costume design exhibiting a level of detail in quality worth exploring.  The camera movements and shots are expertly choreographed along with exuding the tense, frantic action beats that make each of the set pieces truly exhilarating to watch.  Each of the action set pieces are exciting, brutal, and mesmerizing to watch as they rely a lot on one takes and barely cut away from the action beats.  

It must also be mentioned that the bear attack is quite frankly one of the most astounding horrifying, masterfully crafted sequence of suspense and terror.  Its use of CGI and practical choreography really makes it one of the most painful, impressively tense action set piece that truly grabs your attention and never lets you go until the end.

However, there are times when it does get a bit too indulgent with its own cinematography as it can linger on landscape shots for long periods of times which hurts the pacing of the film by slowing it down from getting to the next moment in the story.  It is still truly amazing cinematography at work here, capturing the cold and desolate look of the frontiers beautifully as well as some truly awe-inspiring action set pieces from start to finish but it needed to be tighten up and benefit the story rather than detract from it.

Even though the set designs for this film are mostly on location, it is still worth mentioning as well as the costume and makeup utilized for this film.  Most of this film is set outdoors in the wilderness of forests, snowy wastelands, and different woodland settlements built to the details of that time period.  Each location is truly distinctive and the use of natural lights allows for a bleak, consistent look for the overall film.  This is a testament to on location shooting at its finest along with set dressing to make the overall look be specific and consistent throughout especially since this was shot in about 3-4 countries on about 2-3 continents alone.  This world truly feels alive and dangerous through the meticulous craftsmanship of the location through set dressing, costume designs (with the ragged look of the leather clothes and Indians are quite evocative of that time period through fiction and actual accounts through literature), and the way it was framed in its cinematography as well as the way it was edited to linger on the locations for a period of time.

The compositional score for this film is quite subdued and strikingly in sync with the journey of Glass as well as the haunting beauty of the frontiers.  It is unlike the more traditional, bombastic themes of other Western films where it utilizes more of the electronic/synth instruments to create a cold, alienating feel to the music throughout out with only a few of the pieces in the score feeling traditional to the genre.  The score was composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto in collaboration with Bryce Dessner and Alva Noto, allowing for certain parts of the film to convey the different emotional arcs of this story quite efficiently to express the moments involving vengeance or spiritual conflict within each of the characters.     

So, we get to the harsh but straightforward truth about this film regarding what it does magnificently and falters as a grand, brutal revenge survival story.  The Revenant is a very tense, brutal, and slow burner of a film that is carried along by its fantastic performances from the entire cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, and the rest of the supporting cast players.  This is an adventure that truly immerses you into the terrifying lands Glass treks through to survive and get vengeance at all cost.  The cinematography is magnificent throughout the film as it captures the desolate landscape with such a loving eye to bringing out a certain haunting beauty to it even if it tends to get in the way of the pacing of the story by slowing it down for lingering shots that add nothing to the film other than to the atmosphere.  It is also not a rewatchable film as its themes and grim dark tone can be very exhausting as well as frustrating to contend with at its runtime of 2 hours and 39 minutes.  The story is purely driven on emotions involving rage, loss, and revenge which the film portrays admirably through the strong visuals and performances but it is narratively thin and its focus on the other plotlines involving the supporting characters tends to slow it down considerably other than Fitzgerald’s story arc.  This is a truly gorgeous film that should be recognized for its technical achievements in making this simple tale of survival and revenge mesmerizing to watch but deep down, it says a lot of supposedly deep themes of the loss of humanity through vengeance and finding a cathartic closure through violence without really saying anything of substance or giving a motivation for this story to be told.

Score **** out of *****

Despite the relative score for a good film, The Revenant is quite a technical marvel of visual accomplishment in cinematography, hard hitting action set pieces, and fantastic performances from the entire cast involved especially from Leonardo DiCaprio who gives it his all and deserves all the praise for really embodying the strength and hardships of a man who is living on sheer will to survive the wilds of the frontiers to achieve revenge.  However, the film lacks a narratively, substantive point for this story to be this long drawn and quite the slow burner in a relatively length film.  It is also not an easy watch the second time around as it is rather grim dark in its tone and relies more on the emotional journey it takes its viewers on to truly understand as well as empathize with Glass’ and Fitzgerald’s actions within this story.  This is still worth at least a view for the stunning visuals and a rather unique, if simplistic Western revenge on the big screen.   

Chi-Raq Review

After a string of forgettable, dreadfully panned films of recent years from the black filmmaker that defined a generation of social/political films of the 80’s and 90’s, Spike Lee has finally gone back to familiar grounds and presented a rather creative, vibrantly realized modern day adaptation of a Greek play by Aristophanes called ‘Lysistrata’ with the film titled Chi-Raq.  This well intentioned, passionate effort from Lee is a return to form as him and his team create a uniquely energized, satirical to parodic style of storytelling and performances for this semi-cartoonish and powerfully dramatic film.  It is also a genre hybrid that combines comedy, musical, and drama to create a fusion of different narrative tones and storylines that instill an amazing personality but can be a bit messy at times.  The other technical aspects from the soundtrack to cinematography to finally editing are handled with such strong convictions and memorizing style that it really does make this fictionalized world of Chi-Raq (Chicago) into a fully realized character itself.  Let’s look into how this film is quite the underrated gem that deserves to be discovered and discussed for years to come.

We follow the ensemble cast of characters living in the gun-happy city Chicago, that has more deaths of innocent people than that of Special Forces units in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.  One day, the violence between the Spartans lead by Chi-Raq (Nick Cannon) and Trojan lead by Cyclops (Wesley Snipes) erupts and a young boy is murdered by a stray bullet with the mother (Jennifer Hudson) calling out for justice over this murder along with the Reverend (John Cusack).  This grabs the attention of the beautiful, idealist woman Lysistrata (Teyonah Parris) as she is motivated by this violent act to come up with a solution to the gun violence that has gotten out of control since this war between the gangs began.  The answer, is to withhold sex from the men to eventually have them drop their weapons and find peace from within as well as with each other as a community.  Throughout this film, we see the trials, tribulations, and conflict each character deals with in addressing the violent, cyclic nature of the gun violence in America as well as gender role and the power it has over all of us for both men and female.

This is quite an interesting one to write about as this juggles with a myriad of genres of story genres from Musical to Drama and Comedy.  There are quite a few compelling scenes to fit each style of genre but it also leads to an uneven, inconsistent tone and pacing, leading to some frustrations when the film goes from being compellingly dramatic to over the top, farcical comedy.  However, the smaller character moments from Fr. Mike Corridan (John Cusack), Irene (Jennifer Hudson), Chi-Raq, and Dolmedes (Samuel L. Jackson), the story’s narrator are truly marvelous and powerfully written and performed in really conveying the Shakespearean comedy/tragedy adapted here as well as making for some truly engaging socially driven drama to be seen here.  This will not click with everyone including those who have a problem with the aggressive nature of the story’s themes and executions of those ideas along with the preachy, numerous monologues that convey the message of peace and gun violence in America in a not so subtle way.  However, this is perhaps one of the few creative films that truly has an engaging, discussion worthy social/political commentary through satire that is rare to see today as well as a truly enjoyable, clever Hip-Hop adaptation of a Greek comedy play which is quite an accomplishment to see a film like this get made.

The film also houses some of the finest performances I have seen from a Black driven cast whether it be of the older and/or newer generation of diverse actors portraying characters that are both three dimensional humans to some funny if a bit over the top caricatures of social types in racially made genre films.  Teyonah Parris is absolutely stunning both in beauty and charisma as Lysistrata, the woman who leads a sexual revolt to stop the gun violence on the streets from denying the men “the booty”. Nick Cannon turns in a surprisingly layered, emotionally satisfying performance as the title character with a director that truly brings out the best in him within this role.  You also have great performances from the older cast whether it be Angela Bassett as Miss Helen in a small but memorable performance as well as Samuel L. Jackson, providing a comedic/energized turn as the narrator of this story and John Cusack as the Reverend Mike Corridan, making some of the most passionate monologues in the film.  Wesley Snipes provides a capable, funny performance but can be a bit goofy at times with his slang at times as well as having cartoonishly written characters mixed with the human, layered characters throughout this film.  There are plenty of great turns from character actors that perform their monologues and solo scene with such impeccable comedic/dramatic timing as well as being quite memorable with the short time they have in the film.

On a technical level, the camera work/art design, editing, and music really elevate the material to great heights in positive ways.  The cinematography is truly inspired in quite a few places especially in showcasing the place of Chicago.  Each set really looks massive in the scale and design which is quite impressive in displaying the environment’s character.  There are some truly inspired shots that truly draw you into the drama of each scenes and it moves at a brisk, fast pace that keeps the energy going, rather than make it too frantic or confusing for the viewers to follow.  With the mix of shots that showcase the chaotic life of Chicago as well as the industrialized side mixing with the poverishly poor neighborhood, there is a clear understanding of the city itself visually that few directors take advantage of when really conveying the place the characters’ stories take place in.

Where the film also shines is the soundtrack/score utilized in this film which is both diverse and fitting in all the right places, adding to the dramatic and comedic moments throughout the film.  You have the main compositional work from Terence Blanchard as well as a group of R&B / Hip-Hop Artists such as Nick Cannon, Sam Dew, R. Kelly with Tink, Kevon Carter, Kymm Lewis, Mali Music, Sophia Byrd, and many more throughout the film here and there.  Each song fits smoothly into the tone of each scene especially for the musical numbers featured in the film.  There was great care and thought put into making the music instill the message of the film against the gun violence / racial divide within America, adding to the aggressive but forthcoming style of the director’s narrative abilities.

It was touch and go regarding Spike Lee’s ability to make another good film after the last few films he has done that have been lukewarm or unmitigated disasters.  However, Chi-Raq is a return to form for Lee as he creates an aggressively creative and thought provoking adaptation of a Greek play with some of the sharpest writing to instill the emotions and themes of gun violence within America.  This was reminiscent of his earlier works in a good way but it does juggle with so many genres that it never truly meshes together as a whole, with an inconsistent tone that shifts to comedy, drama, and musical all at once on an occasion.  This is one of his better made films and it is quite hard hitting and funny throughout the film even if it is uneven as a whole.

Score: *** out of *****
Chi-Raq is a return to familiar grounds for Spike Lee and it is quite an inventive, inspirationally made film that oozes in energetic fun and care for the themes of gun violence and gender roles within America and today’s culture.  It is Lee coming back to his very aggressive approach to the material that can be heavy handed and little too much for people to withstand to get to the clever and dramatically effective moments in this film.  The performances are truly astounding from a mostly Black cast of young and old actors giving it their all in each roles as well as a truly strong female lead in Teyonah Parris as well as truly surprisingly subdued, tragic performances from Jennifer Hudson and Nick Cannon.  It is a rather uneven mess at times, contending with a multitude of genres of storytelling and they don’t gel as well as they could have been if handled by someone else.  It can also be a bit slow in the pacing as it can go from monologue to a scene driven by action and visuals which slows the film down instead of letting it clip along at a reasonable pace for film.  This is still a worthwhile effort to watch from Spike Lee and will remind you that this director still has what it takes to make a good film.