Review: Leonardo DiCaprio goes to extraordinary lengths for The Revenant – give the man an Oscar

Surely The Revenant will see Leonardo DiCaprio finally land that elusive Oscar?

DiCaprio sleeps in a horse carcass, eats raw bison liver, and submerges himself in the dirt and snow in sub-zero temperatures in the North American wilderness. He may only speak a dozen lines of English dialogue, but the physical exertion is something else. To say he has suffered for his art is an understatement. Based on the novel by Michael Punke, it's a tale of struggle and vengeance. DiCaprio stars as fur trapper Hugh Glass, who is mauled by a grizzly bear, then struggles back to life to pursue John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy), who left him for dead and killed his son. I'm not usually squeamish, but I watched the gore through my fingers a few times -  especially when the flesh is scraped from his bones by a brown bear; a 5-minute long scene of epic CGI and stunt wire magic. And no, contrary to absurd speculation that DiCaprio has shot down, he does not get raped by the bear. The bear wants to eat him, not have sex with him. "I have no idea where these ridiculous rumours come from," said an understandably annoyed DiCaprio. This is his most physically enduring film to date. When discussing the plight of the cast and crew, DiCaprio said: "We submerged ourselves in the elements for this film. "We really wanted to create something incredibly authentic so these types of adventures lend themselves to taking chances like that." Just as much, if not more, of the praise should be heaped on director Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman, 21 Grams, Babel), who has quite frankly surpassed himself with this film. It's a visionary masterpiece and a must-watch in January.