The Revenant, Alejandro Gonzalez
Inarritu’s follow-up to last year’s Oscar-winning Birdman,
is many things: a brutal revenge tale, a quest for justice, an allegorical
frontier survival story. As grim and visceral and punishing to watch as the
film is, another team up between Inarritu and celebrated cinematographer
Emmanuel Lubezki, it’s a stunning sight to behold. Full of dedicated,
ho-holds-barred performances, especially from Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy,
The Revenant is a grueling, demanding, frontier Apocalypse
Now.
While I like Birdman okay—I certainly
don’t worship it as a game-changing cinematic revelation like some, nor do I
think it is total pretentious garbage like others; the truth, for me anyway,
lies somewhere in the middle—I’m 100%, totally and completely on board with
director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s next film, the old-timey revenge western
The Revenant. And as if I needed another reason to drool
over this picture, there’s a brand new trailer out, and yes, it still looks
amazing.
The Revenant, not to be confused with the
recent horror-comedy of the same name, has prestige written all over it. Last
year’s Oscar-winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman) is back,
the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy, and was lensed by all-star DP
Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity, Children of
Men, and too many to name). But it also looks fucking awesome, a fact
clearly on display in the first teaser trailer.
