Beautifully shot, gruesome and harrowing...this movie finally helped me win our household Oscar contest with Leonardo Dicaprio taking home the Best Actor award in 2015!

This is quite an interesting movie and not one that’s simple to characterize. Much of it is quiet and thoughtful, but there is also quite a bit of harsh action and violence. The story is also rather grim, as bad things happen to good people, and yet the overall tone of The Revenant is not depressing. Through much of the movie the protagonist struggles to survive in a frozen landscape of snow, ice, and gloomy skies, and I think that was intended to be harsh and daunting. However, it’s been so hot where I live lately that I instead found the winter scenery beautiful and soothing. In the end I was a little disappointed that the story boils down to a simple revenge tale, and that the movie's story differs quite a bit from the true events that inspired the film, but there was enough characterization, action, and lush countryside to make the movie satisfying and well worth watching. In fact, I think I might like to watch it again with the sound turned down just to get another look at the mists, clouds, and rocky, snowy mountains, though that would mean I’d miss the moody, atmospheric music.

In a word: Masterpiece.

Required to view this movie for SAG, I would have walked out otherwise. My husband put it well when he called it "pain porn." Grotesque.

I didn't know what to expect going in (yet drawn to the star power of DiCapprio as some sort of mountain man), but man oh man was this a good movie! Just when I thought that Glass couldn't possibly take any more pain and betrayal, he repeatedly clings to survival by sheer force of will. This movie is brutal, gritty, yet beautiful, and an absolute wild ride of a man's quest for revenge. (How on earth does this man stay alive?) Don't even think about skipping it.

A movie of survival and revenge.

I was absolutely riveted. Don't expect a lot of dialogue, much of the story is told through the gorgeous scenery and dream sequences. Very, very gory it is definitely not for a weak stomach. Based on the real Hugh Glass, a resident of St. Louis who explored and mapped much of the Ozarks, it is worth the 2 1/2 hours of your life.

highly over rated

This movie has you hanging on each scene. Love it.

Gritty, brutal realism as others have stated. It's not as high-flying as Fast/Furious or Mission: Impossible. It's somber and realistic. The guns do not have automatic firing features and the explosives are primitive, if there are any shown. It portrays people being people in some very difficult circumstances, fighting for survival when survival seems either impossible or pointless. It is not portraying action movie stars performing for the camera in front of a blue screen with an explosion, crash, or choreographed fist-fight 70% of the scenes. Scenes are shot in a snow-covered forest; the actors are actually cold (actually shot in frigid outdoor environments). It creates tangibly edge-of-your-seat material, not popcorn-munching material.