The Revenant is the 143rd episode of Screen Junkies comedy series Honest Trailers. It was written by Spencer Gilbert, Dan Murrell, Joe Starr and Andy Signore. It was narrated by Jon Bailey as Epic Voice Guy. It parodies the 2015 western drama film The Revenant It was published on March 29 2016, to coincide with the film's release on home video and Blu-ray. It is 4 minutes 22 seconds long. It has been viewed over 4.6 million times.
Watch Honest Trailers - The Revenant on YouTube
"It's one music change away from becoming Jackass." ~ Honest Trailers - The Revenant
Script[]
From Leonardo DiCaprio and -- hey, that's not Scorsese! (Alejandro G. Iñarritu)...comes a film that put the cast through physical and mental torture to film, and put the audience through two and a half hours of mild boredom to watch. (shows a shot of the sky through the trees) Yep, that's the sky. (shows another shot of the sky through the trees) Yep, it's still the sky. (shows a shot of the night sky through the trees) Oh, look, there's the sky again. (shows a shot of the night sky over the trees) Sky's not goin' anywhere. (shows a clear shot of the night sky) Another sky shot. Oh, goody. (shows a shot of the sky over the trees as snow falls) Oh, look at that; it's the sky...again. (shows another shot of the night sky through the trees) Did they just put the camera down and forget it was rolling? Aaaand...(shows yet another shot of the sky through the trees) sky. The Revenant.
After decades of losing to his contemporaries, watch Leo literally scratch and claw his way to an Academy Award as he stacks the deck in this epic Oscar bait, featuring a true story about a historical figure (Hugh Glass), plus a son he never had (Hawk), and a poetic ending where he finally gets the revenge the real guy never had, shot by last year's Best Picture (Birdman), Best Director (Alejandro G. Iñarritu), and Best Cinematography (Emmanuel Lubezki) winners and released in a year where his biggest competition was this (shows Bryan Cranston as Dalton Trumbo in Trumbo). Seriously, if he lost to communist Heisenberg, we'd riot.
Dive into a beautiful film that isn't half as interesting as its making-of story, that'll have audiences wondering where Iñarritu hid the cuts in his amazing tracking shots, questioning what elements were real and what were CGI, and marveling at the use of natural lighting, because they sure as hell won't be caught up in the narrative. (shows a long shot of the sky) Yes, thank you, we know the sky is still there.
In the grand tradition of Nell and Pootie Tang, prepare for two powerhouse performances you won't be able to understand, as Leo shows his full range of emotional grunting while Tom Hardy mumbles about pelts (shows clips of John Fitzgerald talking about pelts). Thrill as Leo blurs the line between actor and role as you watch him actually endure the freezing cold, get inside a dead horse, and eat raw fish and bison liver, which is cool and all, but doesn't being good at acting mean you're good at pretending to do things? I mean, I'd barf if I ate raw liver, too, I'm just sayin', so...like, where's my Oscar?
So prepare for a lot of slow shots of pretty landscapes mixed with the occasional burst of extreme violence to wake you up, that will shock you, then bore you, then will get so over-the-top, it's one music change away from becoming Jackass (shows clips of Hugh Glass performing dangerous acts interspersed with clips of people laughing on Jackass).
Starring Academy Award Winner Leonardo DiCaprio (as Hugh Glass)...ahhhh, it feels so good to say that; Sad Max (Tom Hardy as John Fitzgerald); Domhnall Gleeson (as Andrew Henry)...yes! Nailed it!; Hey, Eyebrows Kid from Maze Runner! (Will Poulter as Jim Bridger); and Sexual Harassment Grizzly (shows a grizzly bear attacking Hugh Glass).
Hugh Glass and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Yeah, I know Leo went through a lot for this role, but look at the haircut on Mark Ruffalo in Spotlight (shows Mark Ruffalo as Michael Rezendes in Spotlight)! Now that's acting!
Trivia[]
- Screen Junkies have produced Honest Trailers for several other Academy Award-nominated films including Boyhood, The Social Network, A Star is Born, La La Land and many others. Screen Junkies also regularly put out Honest Trailers for Academy Award Nominated films, for example, Oscars 2016, Oscars 2017 and Oscars 2018.
- Screen Junkies have produced Honest Trailers for several other historical movies including Braveheart, Gladiator, 300, Robin Hood (2018), Pearl Harbor, Forrest Gump, The Greatest Showman and Titanic. For more, see list of Honest Trailers.
- An Honest Trailer Commentary for this episode was recorded and was available on the Screen Junkies Plus until the website/app was discontinued. Screen Junkies don't currently have any way of releasing the video.
Reception[]
Honest Trailers - The Revenant has a 96.2% approval rating from YouTube viewers. Esquire wrote that the Honest Trailer was "a brutal take-down of everything that was wrong with the movie—from its egregious amount of sky shots, its historical inaccuracy, and unintelligible acting." Time called attention to the Honest Trailer's criticism of the excessive number of sky shots and the claim that the film is one music change away from becoming Jackass. Slash Film said the revelation about how closely the film resembles Jackass was a "real treat" in the video.
Regarding Screen Junkies criticisms of Leonardo DiCaprio's performance, CinemaBlend wrote "leave it to the guys at Screen Junkies to totally roast Leonardo DiCaprio's Oscar winning performance, as a huge sticking point of their rundown of The Revenant seems to chalk the film up to a lot of sky shots, confusing accents, and the most soulful, award winning grunting a man could ever muster." Geek Tyrant questioned if the Honest Trailer's criticisms of Leonardo DiCaprio's grunting were legitimate, writing "sometimes I can't tell if the Honest Trailer people actually mean some of what they say, or if they're just saying things because they think they're being funny."
Production credits[]
Voiceover Narration by Jon Bailey
Title design by Robert Holtby
Series Created by Andy Signore & Brett Weiner
Written by Spencer Gilbert, Dan Murrell, Joe Starr and Andy Signore
Edited by Anthony Falleroni and Dan Murrell
External links []
- This Brutally Honest Trailer for The Revenant Exposes It for the Oscar Bait It Is - Esquire article
- The Honest Trailer for The Revenant Shows It Was Actually Kind of Boring - Time article
- ‘The Revenant’ Honest Trailer: One Music Change Away from Becoming ‘Jackass’ - Slash Film article
- Finally There’s a Revenant Honest Trailer, and It Wants You to Realize You Basically Watched a Period Version of Jackass - Vulture article
- Honest trailer: 'Revenant' was 90% grunting, 10% shots of the sky - USA Today article
- The Revenant honest trailer video - EW article
- Honest Trailer For ‘The Revenant’ Starring Leonardo DiCaprio - Geeks of Doom article
- Watch: ‘The Revenant’ is Just Like MTV’s ‘Jackass’ in Hilarious Honest Trailer - Indie Wire article
- Honest Trailer For THE REVENANT Compares The Movie to JACKASS - Geek Tyrant article
- Watch Leonardo DiCaprio's Emotional, Oscar-Winning Grunting In The Revenant Honest Trailer - CinemaBlend article