Leonardo DiCaprio's ongoing mission to finally bag himself an Oscar continues with his latest offering, The Revenant.
He plays a frontiersman who takes cheating death to new levels after a serious encounter with a very large grizzly bear.
Take a rug and a hot water bottle into the cinema; there won't be much to keep you warm here.
You'd think just lasting the ferocious wilderness winter would be challenge enough, but throw in a few handily wielded tomahawks and a well-intentioned bow and arrow, that grizzly – not to mention a merciless killer hell-bent on your early demise – and you have the kind of movie that would make Bear Grylls scream like a little girl.
DiCaprio is Hugh Glass, left for dead, who defies all laws of anatomy and good sense to pull himself from the grave, with revenge his only raison d'etre.
The story isn't as simple as that – one of the many strengths of this gripping encounter, and there are few films I've seen as savage, as beautiful, and as harrowing as this. But, by crikey, it is hard to watch.
If it came down to pure, hard-out commitment to an intensely gruelling, harrowing role, DiCaprio should win the Oscar for simply surviving the shoot. The visceral, brutal intimate and unrelenting violence will just be too much for some, but this rich blood-soaked tapestry of survival and revenge will deliver a unique cinematic experience, if you have the stomach for it.
Four stars.
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The Revenant:: Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu :: Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, Domhnall Gleeson, Paul Anderson:: Rating: R16 - Graphic violence, sexual violence & content that may disturb:: Running Time: 156 minutes:: Release Date: In cinemas now
