Wow! No spoilers here. Definitely a must-see manly man movie as epic as Jeremiah Johnson. I'll own this one and watch it for years to come. DiCaprio was unreal.
I agree. Definitely a great movie. MUST see. - - - Updated - - - Your loss. Should be more historical movies with this much grit.
I just seen this piece, and it's some type of retaliation or a series of microaggressions by the Mexican film director, Alejandro Inarrito for the past sins of Hollywood when they enjoyed portraying the Mexican frontier life through the prism of Pancho Villa, mainly as rugged, violent and ill-mannered. Nothing but a bloody conquest, with little balancing factors such as better refined and God-fearing villagers. Moreover, I don't know why Alejandro decided to throw in the visions of mounds made of buffalo skulls, a theme which occurred only some 60 years later? Perhaps he may reason it has something to do with that other movie he directed in 2010, about a fella guiding himself through life by the visions of his own death. Good special effects, man vs. nature and man vs. man theme exploration, but too much of a guilt trip targeting selected audience. I also liked all those bows and muskets with the telescopic views. Moreover, I don't think that Inarrito likes Mel Gibson, even though Gibson did offer a sympathetic and gentle view on the lead character's family to offset all the violence and animosity.
Or actually, in the Mel's piece the family balancing theme is quite strong, while in Alejandro's piece it is quite weak.
I think finally I get it. Alejandro must be jealous of Mel. He tried to come up with something similar to Mel's to impress Mel but came up short. His love letter too got rejected.
I thought the plot was weak. Just your basic revenge story, but the suffering the protaganists endure was very visceral to say the least. Not a date movie, this was Jeremiah Johnson on steroids. As a genre, I would label this as pain porn basically. Normally not my cup of tea, but the acting certainly is top tier and elevates the film above the norm.
It was/is a violent piece because the story and the era were violent. There was a lot symbolism in the movie, and the pile of buffalo was a vision of what was to come. If you don't want to see realistic visions of violence, save yourself the trouble.
