‘The Revenant’ trailer: Leonardo DiCaprio cheats death, seeks vengeance

If revenge is best served cold, then the frozen wilderness of the American frontier should provide the perfect setting for Leonardo DiCaprio to seek bloody retribution in Alejandro G. Inarritu’s gritty thriller “The Revenant.”

Glimpsed for the first time in a just-released teaser trailer, the Christmas Day release stars DiCaprio as Hugh Glass, a 19th century fur trapper who’s robbed and left for dead by his own hunting team after being mauled by a grizzly bear.

Through sheer force of will and a desire to see his family again, Glass survives, but he emerges a changed man. “I ain’t afraid to die anymore,” he says gravely. “I’ve done it already.”

The trailer goes on to showcase a chaotic battle in the woods, an apparent dispute between Glass and his confidant John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy), the bear attack and Glass’ quest for vengeance.

Through it all, DiCaprio cuts a dramatic figure — scraggly-bearded, draped in fur, covered in blood and snow — but the real star is Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki’s striking cinematography. A frequent Inarritu collaborator and an Oscar winner for two years running, Lubezki once again employs a fluid, searching camera, this time set loose amid the stark vistas and natural light of rural Canada.

Given the involvement of an A-list star in DiCaprio and a top-tier filmmaker in Inarritu — who’s coming off screenplay, director and best picture Oscars for “Birdman” — “The Revenant” will be closely watched this awards season.

For Inarritu, the film represents his latest foray into new genres after tackling bleak drama (“Amores Perros,” “Babel”) and character-driven black comedy (“Birdman”).

Speaking to The Times about “The Revenant” last fall, Inarritu said the process was “absolutely scary” — as he intended it to be.

“Making ‘Birdman’ I learned — and maybe I should have done this before — but I learned that I should risk a little more,” he said. “I should explore more things I’m not necessarily comfortable with.”

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