There's a lot to be excited about when it comes to The Revenant. It's the first film Alejandro González Iñárritu has made since winning Best Film and Best Director for Birdman, it has Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy sparring (alongside an equally noteworthy young supporting cast) and the story is as compelling and dark as picking at an infection. The opportunity to see Iñárritu's particular aesthetic sensibilities smashed against a muddy, colour-bleached Frontier setting is also an intriguing prospect, but it all pails into insignificance next to the irresistible draw of DiCaprio's grim "origin story". The film's vengeance storyline and DiCaprio's raw performance (surely likely to land him at least a nomination, if not a win with the Academy) are born in a savage looking bear attack that has already been heavily teased in the trailer. And that trigger looks set to rival The Martian's self-surgery procedure as the most difficult scene of the year to watch. Less Exciting: The prospect of attempting to understand Tom Hardy through another heavy accent and several tonnes of ACTING.
