Written and directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, shot by Emmanuel Lubezki (a pairing that dominated this year's Oscars for their work on Birdman) and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy, there's not really much of a question whether The Revenant is going to be any good. Heck, it's pretty damn certain this'll be great - the latest trailer (viewable below) has just dropped and it looks incredible; there's little in the way of plot, but the teaser sets both the tone and scope of this western thriller brilliantly. No, the big question about the movie is whether it'll be the film to finally get DiCaprio his Oscar. It's become a running joke in recent years that one of the greatest living actors (seriously) has been consistently snubbed at the Academy Awards - he's only been nominated four times for acting (and a fifth for a producing role on The Wolf Of Wall Street), and each time has gone away empty handed. It's got to the point where it's a tradition to crack wise about this every awards season (even this year, where DiCaprio had no representation), meaning it'll be something of a coup when he finally gets on the stage at the Dolby Theatre. However, as much as it's a shame Leo's not been honoured, I've never quite got how people are shocked when he doesn't win. After all, what role could he have realistically won an Oscar for? That's not to say he's never delivered an awards-worthy performance (he has, many times), but he rarely goes for parts that suit the Academy's rather specific (unwritten) requirements. In fact, I'd go as far to say the only role in his career that really ticks all the typical Best Actor boxes was The Aviator, and that was in a vintage year where any of the nominees was in with a chance (Jamie Foxx ultimately won for Ray). I loved The Wolf Of Wall Street, which saw DiCaprio deliver some of his most personality-consuming work, but when he lost out to Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club I was hardly surprised. Ron Woodroof is a homophobe forced to confront his prejudice through the contraction of AIDs, leading to a depressing-but-uplifting story of redemption, while Jordan Belfort is an immoral con-man who never admits to his mistakes, never reforms and at the end is still slugging it out in the exact same way. There's no arc there for the Academy to latch onto, which is fine for a Supporting Actor award (I still think his best shot was Calvin Candie in Django Unchained, but The Weinstein Company scuppered DiCaprio's chances there by backing Christoph Waltz instead), but not really for a lead role (Candie was the first time he'd not headlined a film since before Titanic). Best Actor (which is what the leading man will eventually win for) requires a thespian to run the full gamut of emotions, which DiCaprio's choices rarely do (and that's not really a bad thing outside of trophies). So, with that in mind, will The Revenant be the film to break the curse? It's too soon to really say how good the performance (and the film) really is or call the competition (although expect Michael Fassbender in Steve Jobs, Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl and, hopefully, Michael Caine in Youth to all put in the good fight), but what's here looks a go-for-broke, immersive character study and is thus very promising. Fingers crossed... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRfj1VCg16Y The Revenant is out on 25th December in the US and 15th January 2016 in the UK.
