The Revenant - Der Rückkehrer

Leonardo wird ihn jetzt bekommen. Nicht deswegen, weil er besser spielen würde als in The Wolf of Wall Street, sondern weil er sehr leiden musste. So ein Survival mit einer großen Produktion, Superstars, soliden Schauplätzen, gutem Wetter und mit der Kamera von Lubezki braucht keinen inhaltsreicheren Plot. ES REICHT, DASS ER EINFACH IST. So, wie es dem Eiffelturm reicht, dass er einfach steht. Weil in den nächsten Jahrzehnten kein ähnlicher Film entstehen wird. Es ist witzig, dass The Revenant - Der Rückkehrer eine einfachere Geschichte die Zuschauer*innen vorwerfen, die wiederholt den umgefärbten Mad Max: Fury Road besucht haben, in dem keine einzige Außenszene echt ist und in welchem jemand zwei Stunden mit dem Auto durch die Wüste rast, damit ihm vor dem Ziel einfällt, dass er zurückkehren könnte. Die Geschichte von The Revenant - Der Rückkehrer ist ein ständiger Kampf ums Überleben. Der zweite Verrat, ein Treffen mit einem Indianer mit blutendem Herz, Hilfeleistung einem wehrlosen Unschuldigen. Und dazu die FOLGEN. Das Schicksal und unser Vermögen, es zu beeinflussen. Karma. Und uns in der Gegenwart wird bewusst, dass wir auf Genuss hoffen, aber jemand vor uns auf das Überleben gehofft hat. Jeden Tag. Poetische Arthouse-Zusätze in The Revenant - Der Rückkehrer haben keinen Pseudo-Charakter, es ist etwas für die Massen, ähnlich wie z. B. bei Ridleys Gladiator. Nur nicht so kitschig, weil Iñárritu bei den Massenzuschauer*innen nach den zehn Jahren eine Entwicklung der Wahrnehmung voraussetzt. Alejandro, es ist unglaublich, was du eingehst (und riskierst), damit du etwas aufnimmst, was es noch nie gegeben hat. Chivo, du bist ein Gott. Ein fabelhafter Ton und ein tolles Make-up. Überleben und Auf Messers Schneide - Rivalen am Abgrund werden in The Revenant - Der Rückkehrer zu Schneeflocken, die in der Luft mit Der mit dem Wolf tanzt herumfliegen. Ich danke wieder einmal nach langer Zeit der Kinematografie. Für so etwas lebe ich. (17.01.2016)

There aren't many of these realistically dirty, narratively unkempt films that feel like the filmmakers have actually gone back 200 years, and actually I can't remember any from the last few years. Raw action, where you can feel the blood and pain, physical contact fights taken in one long shot, and beautiful visual compositions of breathtaking nature; and snow and mud and filthy actors everywhere – the film crew must have had their fun too. The simple story doesn't hurt at all, because it goes to the heart of the characters and their physical and mental hardships. The complete opposite of the mannerist, self-absorbed Birdman, where I didn't care about the characters' fates at all. Together with Sicario, the best film of 2015. (02.01.2016)

Well, I was 100% sure that I would be delighted and I was already formulating enthusiastic compliments in my head. And then nothing. Revenant is a great ninety-minute survival movie that unfortunately last 150 minutes. The rest is filled with ambition supported with shallow Indian mysticism. The attempts at transcendental ideas unfortunately lead to nowhere, they are just Iñarritu confidently scratching the surface. It’s not only that they don’t work, but they also end up utterly harming the core story and its characters. I didn’t see Hug Glass on the screen even for a moment. It’s always Leonardo DiCaprio performing art under Iñarritu’s direction. Disappointed as hell and the current 83% in view of the 66% for Birdman is a bad joke. (02.02.2016)

One hundred and fifty minutes of art that offers real physical adventure in only two battles. There's clearly something wrong with a film where you spend most of the runtime thinking about the freezing crew on the other side of the camera. I haven't seen something so "wanted" in a long time. Just hand over the coveted statue and let this one fall in as technically honest and damn difficult filmmaking, which perhaps nobody even cares about in the end. PS: Hardy beats DiCaprio by a dead bear and half a horse. (03.01.2016)

Revenant is undoubtedly a great movie. It has genius camera, brutally frozen locations, two absolutely perfect scenes and Leonardo DiCaprio, whose performance is an acting orgasm like never before. If not before, then for this performance he simply has to get the Oscar award. Personally, I think that his showing off is beyond the line. The less talking there is, the more action is happening on the screen. Leo is gutting a horse to hide in his internals or eating raw meat to survive. Plus, he survives a lot ofunbelievable stuff that no average citizen of the Czech Republic would be able to survive. All of that for the most classic reason of all – for revenge. It’s a shame that the creators stretched the story so much. They could’ve spared us some of the flashbacks. Two and a half hours is a lot of time for a story like that. Anyway, I admit that the first scene of the attack of the Native Americans and then the scene of the bear attacking Leo will stick in my memory as the best I’ve seen in a pretty long time. (19.01.2016)

Stunning cinematography, atmospheric music, a great Tom Hardy and some riveting scenes. But if the protagonist crawling through the woods for those 156 minutes had been someone I cared even a little bit about, I probably would have had a lot more fun. A good and in some ways exceptional film that I never want to see again in my life. (07.01.2016)

Sofern wir während der ersten 30 Minuten die famose Kameraführung Lubezkis verfolgen, die equilibristisch durch den Raum dahin fließt, zwischen Panorama- und Kontaktbildern, so bleibt das ganze packend. Doch dann wird es notwendig, eine Geschichte zu erzählen und mit den Charakteren zu arbeiten - und naja, der Alejandro, Meister der Flachheit ist plötzlich mit allen Schikanen zurück. Das Erzählmittel lenkt die Aufmerksamkeit davon ab, was uns gesagt wird. Prim spielt eine unglaublich flach aufgebaute Drehbuchstruktur voller Zufälle ab, das auf den ersten Blick auf Ultra-Realismus beruht, jedoch tatsächlich schweift es ständig in Richtung eines Versuchs um einen metaphysischen Anti-Westen ab. Die symbolische Ebene, das Malick-Spiel mit Landschaften und prunkvollen Symbolen, ist so oberflächlich und ahnungslos, dass es fast schon eine Schande ist. Leo spuckt zwar um sich her und roppt durch die Landschaft, so wie er das im The Wolf of Wall Street gelernt hat, jedoch im Grunde genommen gibt es da nichts zu spielen (er hat mir während der Szene im zerstörten Tempel nahezu Leid getan). Der Film avanciert zu einer oberflächlichen High-School-Übung in Jack-London-Hartnäckigkeit, welche dank etlicher physischer Details leider zu einer Parodie über sich selbst wird - Glass, das ist ein zwischen Trappern und Meresiev des 19. Jahrhunderts schwankender Iron Man. Dies ist keine Lobpreisung der Hartnäckigkeit des Menschen, sondern des übergedunsenen Egos des Machers, der sich selbst oberhalb der Geschichte sowie der Figur als zweifelhafter Gott platziert. The Revenant - Der Rückkehrer ist ein dürres Spektakel, eine intellektuelle Exploatation und ein Film, der nichts mehr als eine großartige Erfassung von Landschaft und Action bringt. Ansonsten ist es ein langweiliger Campingführer und eine Hochschule des Lagerfeueranzündens. Wo nichts ist, da brennt gar nichts an. Metaphysik für Arme vom Grizzly unter den überbewerteten Filmemachern. P.S. Die Bärin nimmt alles, das ist die beste CGI-Szene aller Zeiten. [50%] (05.01.2016)

I was waiting for something in the style of the Black Robe in combination with McCarthy's Bloody Meridian and in a way I got it. Sadly, there was a lot of kind of mystically symbolic insertions that were frequent, pointless and above all unintentionally stupid. It would have been even better if it had kept only in the department of inhospitable wilderness, pragmatic rough trappers, Indians on the warpath, survival, endless snowy distances, howling winds, slow pace. Although it undoubtedly has a few weak or unnecessary scenes, but when it's good (which is true for most of the footage), it's damn good. Largely thanks to the raw atmosphere, poor performance of lame Leo, amazing (however traditional) grumbling Hardy and even Gleeson is surprisingly a great fit. And we need to mention the camera since there has not been anything better since There Will Be Blood. Overall, I really enjoyed it, although I had considerable reservations. (13.01.2016)

So intensely destructive that at the very end, I felt like Glass himself. Broken, torn apart, utterly ruined, down to the marrow and bone. But unlike him, I would give up practically instantly and just wait for death. He crawls, struggles, and in various croaky ways tries to reach his archetypal goal through Leonardo DiCaprio's thrilling interpretation, to the point where even the winter wind on the way back from the cinema felt like the most pleasant spring breeze. I love the classic concept of the western genre, but this turning of traditions upside down needs to happen once in a while in every genre. Especially when the key scenes (the she-bear, the river, the bisons) are already iconic images from the moment of their debut. A magnificent epic and the most intimate rebirth in one. (14.01.2016)

Ein ultimativer Überlebensfilm, der in den nächsten Jahren wahrscheinlich keine Konkurrenz bekommen wird. Bis auf ein paar unnötige Flashbacks, die das Tempo verlangsamen, funktioniert hier alles. Die Action ist roh und die Kamera fesselnd (meiner Meinung nach ein klarer Oscar Kandidat). Die Natur ist grausam und die Schauspieler gehen an ihre Grenzen. Leo WillOscario kämpft hier durch Kälte, Schmutz und Leid und bettelt lautstark nach einem Glatzkopf und dieses Mal könnte es ihm sogar gelingen. Seine starke Performance katapultiert diese Auferstehung eher in Richtung Science-Fiction, aber wenn wir Hardy zu früh und grausam überrumpeln würden, würden wir ein blutiges Gemetzel verlieren. Die Kunst ist hier am Rand, es ist eher ein eisig gefühlvoller Film, der schwächere Gemüter wahrscheinlich sogar etwas depressiv machen wird. Ansonsten drei unvergessliche Szenen für mich: der Angriff der roten Gesichter am Anfang, der Sprung von der Klippe und die anschließende Herstellung des Pferdeschlafsacks und der finale Showdown. Und mal ehrlich, die schicksalhafte Begegnung mit der Grizzlybärenmutter ist an sich eine Schlacht. (90%) (15.01.2016)

The fact that Iñárritu has been part of the directorial elite for a long time is known among fans, and with The Revenant, the Mexican director only confirmed his position. The film represents top-notch filmmaking and is impossible to overlook not only within its genre but also in terms of the year of its creation. In many ways, it is the polar opposite of commercial blockbusters. It is a slow film, despite the initial bloody intimate battle, and not striving for cheap effects. One can talk in superlatives about the cinematography, which captures fascinating shots of the harsh mountainous landscape of the American Midwest, the desperate struggle for survival in an almost hopeless situation, and the magical hallucinogenic images unfolding in the protagonist's mind. In terms of the plot, it is an emotionally straightforward story of betrayal and subsequent revenge, interspersed with insane survival across the freezing hostile mountainous terrain, which does not forgive weakness and hesitation. For Leonardo DiCaprio, after his drug trip in The Wolf of Wall Street, the fight with the enraged she-bear is the second exceptional scene that will go down in film history. DiCaprio does not showcase any grandiose character acting, and besides, not much can be seen under the tangle of disheveled hair and massive beard. However, the filming required extreme physical exertion from him; he literally had to wear out his role and surely went through a lot. The true star of the film for me, however, remains the cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, who confirms his exceptional qualities. The American West is not portrayed in the film as a romantic place or a promised land but rather as a place where harsh conditions for survival prevail, and most of the energy is spent on securing basic human needs. Despite its undeniable strengths, The Revenant will not receive 5* from me. Iñárritu is, after all, a considerably better director than a screenwriter. His hero represents a master in survival, whom even James Bond would envy. Escaping from an Indian encirclement or enduring a grizzly bear attack is one thing, but endless immersion in the icy water of a mountain river gripped by the cold of winter and crossing snowy mountains is another. Since the tragedy of the Titanic and the Allied convoys to Murmansk, we know how long it takes for a person to succumb to cold water, and it is not even hours, more like minutes. Glass would have frozen to death countless times over. To top it all off, a pursuit of a fugitive by two men ensues. I understand that Iñárritu needed a spectacular ending - a typical western finale of a man-to-man fight, but he should have handled it more cleverly (for example, with an avalanche). In real life, at least a dozen exceptionally motivated men would have set out after the thief who turned the fortress inhabitants into beggars. Overall impression: 85%. (04.02.2016)

An arty bloodbath about revenge with amazing camera, excellent Hardy and precise DiCaprio. A raw atmosphere full of mud, blood and hyperthermia accompanied by Ryuichi Sakamoto’s incredibly evocative music that sucks you in from the first minute. You gasp for breath in the freezing cold water, you instinctively scream when the grizzly attacks - you live with the hero. A meditative, raw picture, technically perfect and clean incredible in terms of acting (even though it’s disputable to what extent physical exhaustion is an act) with twelve Oscar nominations. Tom Hardy’s performance is just the icing on the cake. Pure humanity. (15.01.2016)

The event of 2015. From the first scene of the camp ambush it is clear that the filmmaking is on another level (the camera and the minimum of editing!). Although many things are unnecessarily discussed (e.g. the actors), the experience of watching this raw and dirty survival story was widely expected, Iñarritú is at his strongest in his depiction of anything. In terms of the script, it’s nothing too revelatory, after all, the driving force behind the entire film is revenge – one of the most primal and rewarding themes. But the hallmark that this Mexican manages to imbue it with through his elaborate formal style makes for a uniquely opulent and pure genre film. It is too long – its single flaw. If they had just stayed strictly down-to-earth and avoided the Terrence Malick-like dream sequence, it would have been flawless. (17.01.2016)

This is one of the movies that I probably won't want to see again, but it is still an unforgettable experience for several reasons. There is incredibly assured direction, minimalist (in terms of dialogue) yet striking performances, stunning cinematography that is awe-inspiring, and finally, a simple story that is handled very generously. It's great, but I will really only watch it once. (06.01.2016)

Judging by what you can find about the movie online, the filming must have been a complete nightmare for the crew. The final result is really worth it, though. The movie is raw and it will make you chill to the bone, but it is brilliantly filmed and the atmosphere full of brutality is incredibly absorbing (in a good way). Like Birdman, Revenant isn’t for everyone, but I enjoyed it all the way through. I don't know if it's worth betting on the Oscars, but the great DiCaprio and Hardy should really be nominated (and DiCaprio deserves to win). There’s no question about the golden hat-trick for Lubezki for Best Cinematography. (31.12.2015)