Film Preview: The Revenant (2015)

Page Revisions:

(July 26, 2015) Original
(October 4, 2015) New Trailer (#2)
(December 20, 2015) New Posters (#1-#3)

Release Date:

December 25, 2015

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “In the 1820s, a frontiersman, Hugh Glass, set out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling.”

Poster Rating: C+ / C (2)

SEE ALL POSTERS BELOW
Review: (#1) It’s a beautiful, sparse locale, which plays into the film’s isolationism, but that doesn’t make it an effective sales tool. (#2 & #3) These character posters pit a nearly, but not quite, unrecognizable Leonardo DiCaprio against a modestly unrecognizable Tom Hardy, whose sad state of physical weariness might be unappealing to audiences.

Trailer Rating: B / B-

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Review: (#1) There isn’t much to this trailer, though the film certainly looks well filmed. What it has to say about the old west is hard to understand since much of the plot is left out in place of background breathing. Still, you have to give it some leeway considering the talent involved, but will audiences?

(#2) Now we have a bit of a story to go along with our bleak Old Worldly setting. Unfortunately, DiCaprio seems to be giving a performance that seems awfully familiar. That said, there’s a lot of potential still for the film and the trailer isn’t a complete waste of time.

Oscar Prospects:

Alejandro González Iñárritu is now one of a handful of directors whose every film will be talked up as an Oscar contender. Like Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and David O. Russell, he’ll likely land nominations even when he presents weaker work. That doesn’t mean this looks like. On the contrary, the film is sure to be a major player even if he hadn’t just won, but we’ll never know for certain whether it’s the quality of the film or the success of its director that made the determination.