I finally got around to seeing "The Revenant" on blu-ray the other night. It was certainly worth watching in all respects -- acting, directing, photography, and creation of a totally believable milieu. However, there was something that lurked in the background and ultimately had a negative effect on my enjoyment of the fine film. That was the rapid recovery of Hugh Glass (DiCaprio) after being literally almost ripped to pieces by the mama bear. Based on the reviews, I had read I thought there would be a long period of time in which Glass would hole up somewhere safe for a long period of time during which he would rehabilitate and then emerge seeking serious and relentless revenge. In two of my favorite movies a long rehabilitation takes place after the hero is beaten/wounded within an inch of death: Yojimbo and One-Eyed Jacks. In both of these films you get to see the rehabilitation progress slowly and painfully until finally the hero is well enough and strong enough to seek his revenge. In The Revenant, Glass seems to heal way, way too fast, notwithstanding events that would exacerbate his awful injuries, e.g. getting swept away in the rapids and going over two waterfalls!! Just saying...
Want to see what I mean? Check out this video with excerpts from One-Eyed Jacks: Start at about 3:18 to see the beating and then keep watching to see the rehabilitation.
2 comments:
good point, though I saw it a while ago and don't remember that being so fast...another slow recovery Paul Newman with his broken thumbs in THE HUSTLER and there's a classic Western where the hero's gun hand has a slow recovery before he can go after the bad guy but I can't remember which one it was!?
My problem with the Revenant was of a different sort. While the seeming realism of the cinematography and the mise en scene was remarkable, the acting - especially of di Caprio as Glass - was pretty one-note, it seemed to me. Survive/Revenge-Survive/Revenge-Survive/Revenge. Which made the whole exercise seem empty, ultimately. And I did not get the sense that the emptiness was a point they were trying to make. Rather, it felt like the titillation of nature's violence and the human violence was the point. It made me feel dirty.
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