Leonardo DiCaprio’s Goriest Movie Is Streaming For Free
Don't eat too much beforehand!
If you missed Leonardo DiCaprio battling through the wilderness and getting mauled by a bear in The Revenant, now is your chance to see it for free. The FreeVee streaming platform has made the movie available in the US, so you can see the role that finally won Leo the Oscar. Oh, and it has a pretty great Tom Hardy performance as well.
The Revenant tells the story of Hugh Glass, a man seeking revenge after he’s mauled by a bear, his son is killed, and he’s left for dead. The character is based on the real-life fur-trapper Hugh Glass and his adventures in 1823. Alejandro Iñárritu directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Mark L. Smith, which was based on the novel of the same name by Michael Punke, which in turn was inspired by the 1915 poem “The Song of Hugh Glass.” In addition to Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy stars as the man who Glass seeks vengeance upon. The movie also stars Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter, Forrest Goodluck, Paul Anderson, Kristoffer Joner, Duane Howard, Melaw Nakehk’o, Arthur Redcloud, Lukas Haas, Brendan Fletcher, Tom Guiry, and Grace Dove.
While The Revenant tells a fittingly harrowing tale of survival and revenge, arguably the most notable part of the movie at the time of release was all the rumors and news about the movie’s production. Alejandro Iñárritu was insistent on only shooting in natural lighting, in the remote wilderness. Apparently, it was quite a hellish experience for the cast and crew. Many crew members either quit or were fired from the production. Leonardo DiCaprio himself stated that 30 or 40 of the sequences he filmed were amongst the hardest things he’s ever had to do, saying “Whether it’s going in and out of frozen rivers, or sleeping in animal carcasses, or what I ate on set. [I was] enduring freezing cold and possible hypothermia constantly.” Throughout the production, the budget gradually increased, eventually more than doubling the originally planned amount. With $60 million initially budgeted, the movie finished with $135 million spent.
Fortunately, the movie’s star-studded cast, the promise of an Oscar-worthy Leonardo DiCaprio performance, and a stunning bear mauling sequence brought audiences out to see the film. It ended up making more than its budget back domestically with $183.6 million and $532.9 million worldwide. And the reviews were right — it was a very good Leonardo DiCaprio performance. Good enough to finally net Leo his first Best Actor Oscar. With that being said, is it the best Leo role of all time? Not really, but maybe the Academy felt like he deserved it after going through the production hell and getting snubbed various times before. Tom Hardy just missed out on the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, losing out to Mark Rylance’s brilliantly subdued performance in Bridge of Spies. All in all, the film received 12 nominations, with Leo taking home one of them, Iñárritu getting the award for Best Director, and Best Cinematography for Emmanuel Lubezski.
Leonardo DiCaprio managed to get a ton of fan support for the Oscar too, with many hoping for the actor to finally take home the award. Leo had previously been nominated for The Wolf of Wall Street, Blood Diamond, The Aviator, and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, so this award was a long time coming. In addition to loving Leo’s performance, audiences seemed to love the movie as well. It currently holds an 84% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 78% from critics. As mentioned, it might not be the best Leo movie, but it’s definitely worth a try.
The Revenant should be the perfect Leonardo DiCaprio movie to hold us over until his next big feature, Killers of the Flower Moon, which is expected to premiere sometime in 2022. Killers of the Flower Moon will reunite Leo with the great Martin Scorcese. The movie is based on the book of the same name by David Grann, telling the story of an FBI investigation in the 1920s looking into the mysterious murders of members of the Osage tribe. Leo and Marty together are always a winning combination, so maybe they’ll be able to add some more Oscar gold to both of their cases. Until then, make sure to check out The Revenant on FreeVee if you want a free movie night.
