There’s no doubt that The Revenant is an impressive film. Shot entirely with natural light, director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu put his cast and crew through hell, filming in difficult environments at trying hours and incorporating some extremely long shots. Actors had to wrangle with the environment on top of their characters, especially Leonardo DiCaprio, who gives his most physical performance to date.  Much has already been written about how he ate raw liver for one particular scene, and the Hollywood star and hearthrob deserves credit for committing 100% to a role that lacks any sort of vanity.

But despite the impressive craft that went into the creation of The Revenant, the film itself is a disappointment. If anything, the gorgeous digital cinematography  and painstakingly blocked long-takes of the film feels a bit at odds with its rough, dirty aesthetics.  A similar style was utilized in Birdman, but there the content fit the stylization, with the unblinking cinematography matching the intensity and mounting stress of directing a stage play. Although The Revenant does contain a handful of extremely tense moments, all empowered by the film’s formal choices, the majority of the film exists in the lull between action sequences.

This, too, is a problem with The Revenant. At its heart, the film is quite simple: it’s a revenge flick. Leonardo DiCaprio’s character is horribly wronged after a brutal bear-mauling, and he spends the majority of the movie recovering and seeking his vengeance. But unlike many revenge films, The Revenant is meandering and lacks forward momentum. Inarritu tries to add depth to the film in the smaller moments, with DiCaprio’s Hugh Glass bonding with a few Native American characters and dreaming of his deceased wife. But these scenes don’t really amount to anything substantial, and at the end, very little actual meaning can be attributed to the film.

All of the extra downtime is also problematic because it kills the pacing of the film. As a revenge movie, there’s simply not enough depth or excitement to justify its 156 minute runtime. Make no mistake, half an hour of this film could have cut without losing anything substantial. It’s a shame that a film with such an excellent first hour becomes such a bore for the remainder of its stay.

In any case, it’s something of a miracle that The Revenant exists at all. It’s the kind of film that only gets made when a filmmaker surprises the world with a film and receives carte blanche for the follow-up. It’s overlong, indulgent, and messy, but it’s certainly unique. A noble failure such as this is still more valuable than a film that takes no risk, and for that, I’m thankful for The Revenant.