History YMMV / TheRevenant

* JustForFun/XMeetsY: This film is ''Film/{{Apocalypto}}'' meets ''The New World'' meets ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'', with a dash of ''Film/AguirreTheWrathOfGod'' thrown in for good measure.

* CompleteMonster: Fitzgerald, to an inhuman extent. A dirty coward who only cares for his own survival and his own petty profit, willing to abandon anyone if that would save his own skin. [[spoiler: He stays with Glass only because he would be handsomly rewarded for that, but soon decided to just stage his death and quickly return for his paycheck. When things get complicated, he kills Hugh's son without even blinking and on pure instinct. Then, when a few days later Bridger realises what really happend, Fitzgerald overpowers him, prepares to shoot him and pulls the trigger. If the gun were properly primed, he would also have killed Bridger. Later he runs away to re-enlist and thus gain legal immunity for his actions and revenge from Glass (there was a death penalty for killing a soldier), in the process killing ''an Army captain'' and scalps him to put the blame on the Arikaras. When finally captured and dying in Glass' hands, he uses his last breath to taunt him about how pointless the whole revenge was]]. Did we mention he's also casually and extremely racist?

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* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Due to the reports of the film going over budget and the R rating, not to mention the running time, some felt it wouldn't be much of a financial success. However, the film managed to score not only good reviews and awards attention, but also strong box office, with a worldwide total exceeding 530 million.

* ConsolationAward: While everyone's happy that Leonardo finally got the Oscar, some felt that this wasn't the film he should have won it for, feeling that his performance wasn't as strong as his previous nominations.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Will Poulter as Jim Bridger managed to get a fair amount of attention for his role, with some critics like Creator/MarkKermode claiming that he (quietly) stole the show from [=DiCaprio=] and Hardy.

* MemeticMutation: [[http://drudgereport.com/now3.htm A now-infamous Drudge report article]] claiming [=DiCaprio=] gets "raped by a bear" ''exploded'' across the Internet, to the point that Fox actually had to [[http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/01/revenant-bear-rape-scene issue a statement]] assuring people that no, the film does not feature bear rape.

* OneSceneWonder: The bear is only on-screen for about five minutes as an UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom - causing the injuries that lead to Glass being left for dead. But most people remember the violent fight with Glass, and the bear is probably one of the most memorable things about the movie.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The bear that mauls Glass at the start of the film? It's all CGI.

* SpiritualAdaptation: Due to copious amounts of {{Gorn}}, grim tone and similar time period, this is about the closest to getting a film version of Creator/CormacMcCarthy's ''Literature/BloodMeridian''. Also, according to this Website/{{Cracked}} [[http://www.cracked.com/article_24343_6-famous-films-that-are-secret-remakes-kids-movies.html article]], ''The Revenant'' is a blatant rip-off of a Japanese kids' film known as ''Film/TheAdventuresOfMiloAndOtis''.

* SpiritualAdaptation: Due to copious amounts of {{Gorn}}, grim tone and similar time period, this is about the closest to getting a film version of Creator/CormacMcCarthy's ''Literature/BloodMeridian''. According to this Website/{{Cracked}} [[http://www.cracked.com/article_24343_6-famous-films-that-are-secret-remakes-kids-movies.html article]], this film is also a spiritual adaptation of a Japanese kids' film known as ''Film/TheAdventuresOfMiloAndOtis''.

* SpiritualAdaptation: Due to copious amounts of {{Gorn}}, grim tone and similar time period, this is about the closest to getting a film version of Creator/CormacMcCarthy's ''Literature/BloodMeridian''.
** According to this Website/{{Cracked}} [[http://www.cracked.com/article_24343_6-famous-films-that-are-secret-remakes-kids-movies.html article]], this film is also a spiritual adaptation of a Japanese kids' film known as ''Film/TheAdventuresOfMiloAndOtis''.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:

* SpiritualAdaptation: Due to copious amounts of {{Gorn}}, grim tone and similar time period, this is about the closest to getting a film version of [[{{Creator/Cormac McCarthy}} Cormac McCarthy's]] ''Literature/BloodMeridian''.
* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The bear that mauls Glass at the start of the film? It's all CGI.

** Another scene shows Glass attempting to drink water from a stream, only for some of it to come out of a recently-sewn ''hole in his neck''.

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Due to the reports of the film going over budget and the R rating, not to mention the running time, some felt it wouldn't be much of a financial success. However, the film managed to score not only good reviews and awards attention, but also strong box office, with a current worldwide total exceeding 530 million.

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Due to the reports of the film going over budget and the R rating, not to mention the running time, some felt it wouldn't be much of a financial success. However, the film managed to score not only good reviews and awards attention, but also strong box office, with a current worldwide total exceeding 500 million and counting.

* AwardSnub: Averted. Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio '''finally''' got his Best Actor Oscar with this film (He infamously has been nominated several times and lost every time before). But played straight with it not winning Best Picture, especially since most critics considered it a lock( though losing to arguably the most critically acclaimed film of 2015, ''Film/{{Spotlight}}'', makes this less so. Same thing goes for the score, which wasn't even nominated due to the film using more than one composer.

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The bear that mauls Glass at the start of the film ? It's all CGI.

* AwardSnub: Averted. Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio '''finally''' got his Best Actor Oscar with this film (He infamously has been nominated several times and lost every time before). But played straight with it not winning Best Picture, especially since most critics considered it a lock( though losing to arguably the most critically acclaimed film of 2015, ''Film/{{Spotlight}}'', makes this less so. Same thing goes for the score, which wasn't even nominated due to circumstances that prevented it from happening.

* AwardSnub: Averted. Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio '''finally''' got his Best Actor Oscar with this film (He infamously has been nominated several times and lost every time before). But played straight with it not winning Best Picture, especially since most critics considered it a lock. Same thing goes for the score, which wasn't even nominated due to circumstances that prevented it from happening.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Fitzgerald gets a lot of this. Some viewers found him sympathetic and his actions to be just a product of the time while others found him to be a loathsome bastard with few redeeming qualities.
** Likewise the Ree chieftain. While his motivation is universally considered sympathetic some viewers thought the indiscriminate nature of his ''actions'' pushed him deep into villain territory.
* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Due to the reports of the film going over budget and the R rating, not to mention the running time, some felt it wouldn't be much of a financial success. However, the film managed to score not only good reviews and awards attention, but also strong box office, with a current worldwide total exceeding 480 million and counting.

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Due to the reports of the film going over budget and the R rating, not to mention the running time, some felt it wouldn't be much of a financial success. However, the film managed to score not only good reviews and awards attention, but also strong box office, with a current worldwide total exceeding 400 million and counting.

%%* BrokenBase: While everyone's happy that Leonardo finally got the Oscar, some felt that this wasn't the film he should have won it for, feeling that his performance wasn't as strong as his previous nominations.

** The Pawnee hunter that Glass encounters and later befriends, was there because he had lost his family to raid by another tribe and was trying to find more of his people to the South. Despite this, he goes out of his way to help Glass stay alive and get to the fort. [[spoiler: He's later lynched by French fur trappers in cold blood.]]

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The (aforementioned) haunting score by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Bryce Dessner and Alva Noto, especially the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4oEhmvaC4I main theme]] and it's variations.
* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Some critics were really impressed with Will Poulter's performance as Jim Bridger, especially considering some of the other [[Film/WereTheMillers films he's been in]].

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The Bear is the most obvious one but some of the CG used for other animals is quite good and naturalist photography is nothing short of ''stunning''.