I saw it today, every frame is like a painting, the savage beauty of the unforgiving terrain immerses you in the fight for survival and hunt for revenge that Glass embarks on.
Hardy is very good as the ruthless and treacherous Fitzgerald, you can argue he's just trying to survive as well as things spiral, but his greed fuels an intense undercurrent of menace. Even though he has some meat to his dialogue the character works mostly due to Hardy's physical acting.
Leo on the other hand has very little to work with, and this is one of those occasions where being a big mega star we feel we "know" helps, as the film spends zero time exploring the man beyond the relentless vengeance seeking survivor. We know in the context of the story he's the one to root for but given there's nothing before the bear attack to make us care beyond base human nature, it's down to a connection with the actor and Leo's physical toil to invest us in Hugh Glass.
The film is a visual journey, a brutal travelog in a sense, it's told more through watching than listening, the dialogue is sparse and I can see why some feel it's overlong and self indulgent, but I felt the pacing was attempting to convey the degree of the struggle Glass undertakes.
There's an attempt to art things up a bit with the visions Glass has during his healing, and the always stoic Native American trimmings, but in truth this is a minimalist survival and revenge tale, nothing more, and that's fine by me, I don't need the other aspect to try and make me tag it as highbrow.
One thing I really loved was the long takes during the action sequences, they really took you into the carnage which was visceral and brutal but still cinematic and dynamic, marrying these elements is difficult but Iñárritu achieves it in style.
I wouldn't say it's a great film, but a very good one with some great moments, and it's 2015's most visually stunning movie. Like Pinky I don't think it's a lock for best picture but I think it has a strong shot at that award and the directing Oscar, I don't think this role will get Leo his Oscar though.
8.5/10