The strength of “The Revenant” is how successfully it transports us to a different time and location while yet maintaining its value as a piece of art, as you can see in this video. It is more than just a movie; “The Revenant” is an experience. You leave it exhausted, fascinated by the overall style of the filmmaking, and a little bit more appreciative of your everyday comforts.
The Revenant, directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Iárritu, stands out for its ability to transport us to a different era and location without ever losing sight of its artistic merit. It is uncertain whether “The Revenant” will ever be publicly available. Since the movie cannot be easily categorised, described, or labelled, marketing it is challenging. One thing is certain, though. The writer-director D. Kerry Prior is a master of cinema.
Kerry Prior makes a wise decision by bringing his “Revenant,” a half-human, half-undead hybrid. It is fantastic to see a director use the indie zombie movie in a novel way because the genre has been so thoroughly explored; this is why D. Kerry Prior’s The Revenant is so welcome.
It combines a buddy movie, a pitch-black humour, and an intriguing character study into one seamless whole. Despite covering a wide range of stylistic ground, the movie never feels disjointed. In addition, the acting is new, especially between the two male actors, and the creation does not appear in the least bit understated. The Revenant becomes a true cult favourite when you combine a plot with many thrilling turns and bends with a writing that has many twists and turns as well as a fantastically magnificent conclusion.
STORY AND PLOT
The Revenant opens with a youthful warrior, Bart Gregory (David Anders, Once Upon a Time), getting killed in the line of obligation. After one month, being buried for a month, he reawakens as a weird vampire/zombie hybrid. It’s not long until Bart understands that he has to consume human blood to survive. Bart becomes a midnight vigilante with the aid of his old pal Joey (Chris Wylde, Joe Dirt), killing gangsters and other bad men to satisfy his insatiable need.
The film centres around Second Lieutenant Bart Gregory (David Anders) who has been killed under mysterious conditions in Iraq. After his companions and sweetheart Janet (Louise Griffiths) go to his memorial service, Bart stirs in his grave. With the assistance of his friend, Joey Leubner (Chris Wylde), Bart begins to comprehend and learn how to live with his new undead existence, including the knowledge that he requires blood to prevent decomposition and that he is inactive during daylight hours. Joey conducts internet research to determine what Bart is and appears to be trapped between a Zombie and a Vampire before concluding that Bart is a Revenant.
When Bart murders and feeds off a gangster who is holding up the store while purchasing beer from a little store in Koreatown, Bart and Joey become vigilantes. Joey begs Bart to bestow the “dark gift” on him since he enjoys the media coverage of the tragedy. Bart flatly refuses and dismisses the suggestion. Following a failed vigilantism attempt in which Joey is gravely wounded, Bart is forced to ingest Joey’s blood in order to save him.
For a time, the two continue their vigilante murdering spree until Mathilda (Jacy King), Janet’s friend who dislikes both Bart and Joey, pursues them and threatens to expose their deeds to the public, particularly Janet. Mathilda gets shot by Joey. She gets stabbed in the chest, but she is able to convey the information to Janet before she dies.
Joey orders Bart to meet him back at the flat in half an hour with a packed suitcase, fearing they may be discovered, and then drives away suddenly. At the flat, Bart is confronted by a tearful Janet, who pushes him to explain that he needs blood to keep stable. She then begs him to feed off of her instead of killing so that he won’t have to murder. Bart loses control and begins to drain her till she passes away.
Despite being based on a few familiar genre tropes, The Revenant manages to deliver a surprising amount of creativity and character.
Joey comes to the apartment with a “pimped out” hearse for the two to use and advises that they continue their reign in Las Vegas. , After Bart shows him Janet’s body, the two start fighting and repeatedly shoot each other, despite the fact that this is inadequate to kill either of them. Joey storms away, declaring that he will travel to Vegas alone. Bart decapitates Janet to assure her death, then throws her body over the bridge, where he and Joey routinely disposed of their corpses. SWAT forces apprehend Bart and transport him to jail, where he falls in his cell at daybreak.
Bart reawakens at the morgue after dusk and flees, returning to his apartment. There’s a parcel inside with Joey’s severed head.
Joey is still “alive” because he was decapitated at night, and Bart uses a vibrating dildo to make Joey’s head talk. Joey informs Bart that a gangbanger who was their first kill is out for vengeance, and then demands that Bart kill him once and for all. Joey’s skull is crushed beneath a bulldozer, and Bart subsequently tries to kill himself.
A gunshot through the head, contrary to popular belief, has no impact, and neither does hanging oneself with Christmas lights. He even throws himself in front of a metro train, only to have his arm severed. Bart then takes a train, where he discovers and reads a note placed in his uniform pocket by Janet during his burial.
He loses control and strikes the other passenger. He is apprehended and runs into the station, where he is pursued by other SWAT units.
He ultimately makes it to a mountaintop, where he falls again at daybreak, surrounded by guys in hazmat suits.
The picture then transitions to a type of tour, in which various military members, including Bart, are shown revenants in glass containers. Bart is asked if he was a soldier by a General, who then claims that this information may offer him an advantage.
Bart is then shown in a big canister, along with the other revenants, being airdropped into Khzestn Province, Iran, where the canister opens upon landing, unleashing him upon the nation.
REVIEWS
A subtle sprinkling of societal satire, a touch of humorously unpleasant gore, plenty of terrible mayhem, and surprisingly good effects round out the flick. While the twists and turns in The Revenant may not be to everyone’s taste, the trip is interesting, exciting, a touch heartbreaking, and nearly always invigorating.The film’s main protagonists (Anders and Wylde) also pour a lot of energy, passion, and reality into their roles.
By means of The Boondock Saints, An American Werewolf in London, and Return of the Living Dead Part III, their chemistry together propels the film, which frequently plays like a twisted variant of Bonnie & Clyde (the one where the guy resurrects his dead girlfriend). Without the unusual pair of Chris Wylde and David Anders, who were a match made in heaven, everything would have been lost.
Chris Wylde also finds his niche in the horror comedy genre, as a loyal friend would, by mocking Anders’ zombie antics. Wylde’s stoner sensibilities are a fantastic match for Joey’s character and the ideal counterpoint to Bart, bringing silly humour into the mix at just the right times.
Joey is your Rocco, if you’re a fan of the Boondock Saints. Loveable, zany, and full of brilliant ideas that keep Bart in his predicament. The one faltering point that didn’t totally stick is about Bart’s connection with Janet (Louise Griffiths). I’m not one to dismiss romantic elements based on a prejudiced aversion to the genre, but her unwavering love for Bart – though charming – felt like a distraction from the rest of the plot.
In this regard, The Revenant becomes a touch sentimental, but Janet also sets the stage for some really amusing conversations later in the film, so it’s all fine. Overall, the finale was excellent. A soldier who is so morally conscientious that he is killed in the beginning becomes the ideal killing machine at the end, completing the circle. The anti-war/anti-gun attitude has been expertly implanted.
The script is smart, sardonic, and extremely amusing, with a healthy amount of sadness tossed in for good measure, making the characters much more believable and human. Overall, this is terrific entertainment for those of us who enjoy this delectably twisted genre when it’s done correctly.
Surrounds are edgy, bringing life to almost every scene. There are no crackles or distortions in the dialogue, but there is a lot of hiss at times, as well as some echo in specific passages. The bass is likewise quiet, but it does chime in to highlight a few critical moments. Although the quality is practically a bit dim , the picture does sound well. It started off a little dry, but after things starting happening, I found myself really liking it.
The key cause for this was David Anders. The “funny” character portrayed by Chris Wylde irritated me more than anything else, but Anders and some very humorous bits saved the film for me. This was undeniably a non-traditional vampire film. While the narrative begins lightheartedly, it quickly gets serious and tragic. The acting was adequate, but the narrative was lousy at best. I think the bottom line is that as a lover of vampire films, I found the film enjoyable and a decent way to pass the time. The film is a little lengthy, and the plot appeared to drag on at parts. The picture progresses from amusing to gravely sombre. It mixes in vampire lore mixed with some zombie plague.
This was an amazing, if slightly imperfect, attempt with a lot to admire about it. One of the film’s stronger features is the sensitive area of how it handles with the guy’s condition, putting vampire and zombie qualities on him while never declaring whether he is one or the other and contains traits that cancel out whether he is one or the other.
It’s a terrific tactic that works well since it results in such an appealing creature that the scenes of them chasing people down are a lot funnier than expected and produce some really excellent, genuine chuckles from their fumbling and stumbling around, which is pleasant to watch. Zombies and vampires have recently been done to death. We’ve seen romantic vampires, comedic zombies, and a plethora of hybrids of the two. So, just when we thought we’d seen every variation on the zombie theme, here comes The Revenant.
They blend the two here, resulting in sentient ‘zombies’ that don’t just moan about the place devouring human flesh, but instead only come to ‘life’ at night and seek human blood, much like vampires. Surprisingly, it works.
Extras include a making-of documentary, deleted scenes, a picture gallery, and trailers, as well as two commentary tracks (one from director Kerry Prior and the other from the cast). The remarks are both entertaining and educational. Stick with the cast track if you prefer party music. The director track, on the other hand, is clearly the most well-rounded of the two. The 13-minute featurette is also worth watching.
‘Revenant’ Mashes Up Undead Havoc, Anti-War Theme
It’s not exactly a zombie film- a “revenant” returns from the dead as a physical ghost – but it acts as one, and its anti-war emotions are smuggled in like a ruse that explodes with surprising intensity.
Whereas Dante and Hamm communicated their message with scathing wit, writer-director Kerry Prior opts for a goofy, shambling bloodbath in the Shaun of the Dead tradition, following a pair of pals as they swap quips and face nefarious powers from beyond the dead. It eventually makes a statement, but the journey there is a half-fun, half-tedious clearing of the throat.
Bart (David Anders) dies from several gunshot wounds while on a night raid in the Iraqi desert after stopping to care to a wounded kid and hostile forces assault his supply vehicle. Despite receiving a dignified funeral back home, Bart does not die. He’s pleased to be alive after waking up 6 feet below and clawing his way to the surface, but frightened that his eyes have become milky white and the decomposition process hasn’t stopped.
The Revenant enters hazardous zone at this point. Bart isn’t a brain-thirsty zombie, but rather a conscientious individual who happens to love blood and flesh; he can’t bring himself to savage the innocent. So he and Joey become a vigilante crime fighting squad, gunning down stickup men and drug pushers to cheers from the town, who mainly turn the other way as the bodies are absconded with.
The gruesome, chaotic events that follow add much of the weight to the film’s bloated two-hour running length, and they also hijack the tone, obliterating the early scenes’ sharp, fish-out-of-water comedy in favour of slaughter and mayhem.
The Revenant is about reconciling Bart’s conscience with his horrible cravings, and this is where Prior’s metaphoric objective begins to pay off. Bart is murdered in Iraq when his compassion triumphs over protocol; The Revenant’s ironic storyline is that as he gradually distances himself from humanity, Bart eventually becomes a true soldier.
The Revenant fused horror with humour in a way similar of how The Boondock Saints merged action and comedy in the same vigilantism plot, which is a huge compliment in my opinion.
THE REVENANT – A ZOMBIE
The Revenant is a sort of zombie that started in European legend. Revenants are less inclined to decaying and crumbling than customary zombies, and they normally hold information and recollections from their earlier presence. They are persuaded by a solitary consuming objective, most regularly retribution or genuine love, and are spurred by an energy so extraordinary that it might conquer death.
In specific mythical circles, a revenant zombie can be brought back by things like a wrong burial or the individual being referred to not understanding they are dead and shouldn’t be wandering near. There’s an explanation that the words “Revenant” and “Vengeance” are derived from a similar French root word “revancher” (to revenge upon).
Similarly we have THE REVENANT 2009 which is a thriller amigo parody about Joey and his undead companion Bart who resurrects as a revenant: an understandable zombie that necessitates drinking blood to capture the disintegration of his body.The film merges zombie legend with vampire lore, resulting in a very unusual, yet intriguing, mixture. The main character, Bart, dies in battle and reincarnates as a decaying vampiric beast in need of blood to stay “alive” and prevent himself from withering away.
Initially, he robs a blood bank before moving on to the lowest rungs of society, but events twist and things worsen from there.This isn’t your typical zombie film. This time, it’s viewed through the eyes of a zombie that refuses to die. At first, becoming a zombie appears to be a fantastic idea, and certainly, they can benefit society by murdering filth, but after a while, things get out of hand, and concerns arise about why people are wandering around like zombies.
Prior, not to leave horror geeks scratching their heads with my ramblings thus far, has plenty of genre-based entertainment as well. Everyone engaged in Makeup and Effects deserves a standing ovation as fans witness Bart transform goons into the zombie equivalent of a juice box.