The action movies of the 21st century are an entirely different beast to the times of The Great Escape, Dr. No and Yojimbo, with modern directors being treated with an entire toybox of fancy gizmos and technological widgets to help them to bring their vision to life. Such has led to fantasy epics and impossibly frenetic scenes that would be the mere pipedream of golden age Hollywood. We’re looking back at one particularly brilliant piece from Leonardo DiCaprio.
Though the genre came on leaps and bounds throughout the 1980s and 1990s, it was upon the release of The Bourne Identity in 2002 that modern action would truly change, with the choppy, swift and nimble cinematography being picked up by filmmakers across the landscape of contemporary cinema.
Moving with a frightening pace and a genuine sense of brutality, such modern action films make genre movies of old seem like mere child’s play. One film that displays this unique take on action is the wonderfully appointed film The Revenant.
Gut-wrenchingly intense, the battle that sparks the start of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s epic story, The Revenant, is a technical marvel, showing a brutal fight between Native Americans and a group of frontiersmen. Expertly constructed by Iñárritu, the scene is captured in one masterful shot whilst the soundtrack fuels the fears and intensity of the moment; it’s a truly heart-pumping moment.
Led by Leonardo DiCaprio, the beauty of the scene is that, whilst the actor remains the focus of our attention, everywhere you look, chaos, death and blood-curdling violence reign supreme.
Watch The Revenant on Netflix.
