Yet despite its strengths, The Revenant never feels like much more than a simple revenge drama. Its evident that I±¡rritu is striving to communicate bigger ideas, but his exploration of such themes as spirituality, mans relationship with nature, and empathy for Native Americans is surface-level at best. Im going with three out of five for The Revenant. I±¡rritus muscular filmmaking must be applauded, even if the film itself is as exhausting as it is thrilling.

This is also a film that has the least amount of dialogue from Leonardo. In fact, you can probably count the number of times he utters some words or sentences. Instead, you get to see him ride off a cliff, have frequent flashbacks of his Pawnee wife, eat raw animal organs and almost get ripped apart by a grizzly bear. That aside, Inarritu has also tried to inject a spiritual angle into the narrative. Beauty and brutality are balanced equally well in this fable, set in a time when America was still the Wild West

I±¡rritu embraces revenge in The Revenant, serving it up very cold indeed, but the films heart doesnt throb as messily, as humanly as — I suspect — the director would have liked it to. (Perhaps DiCaprio ate it.) Either way, The Revenant is a devastating, visually jawdropping film that, for all its sins of tedium, makes up with scale what it lacks in artfulness. It certainly does the frontier justice.

The story, though loosely based on a real life incident is a simple revenge tale. Hugh Glass (DiCaprio), after being mauled by a bear in a jungle and left for dead by his companions crawls back to the city to return the favor. Theres no deeper subtext within the film, even though visually the film poses to present something deeper. The lone message the film actually renders is done quite unsubtly that the white man came to America, raped and pillaged the Native Americans and stripped away the lands peace and innocence.

This is a Man vs Wild survival drama, a revenge saga and an existential journey, besides its artistic politicking. And at times, you feel it is too much to meld into a coherent film. Viewers looking for an overall emotional impact may be disappointed. It works not so much as a movie with a message but as a pure, visceral experience.

On the whole, keeping true to its name, THE REVENANT is a stunning visual experience with a brilliant performance by Leonardo DiCaprio. Though in India, the film may not have a mass appeal and will primarily charm the multiplex audiences in Metros.