The Revenant and Jeremiah Johnson

The Revenant from 2015 is a great movie. Technically, it’s outstanding – shot in natural light and looking stunning – it has some breath taking scenes and works well as a big screen adventure story.

It reminded me a little of Jeremiah Johnson which has all of the above, but also has a few laughs and a bit more humanity.

Both films are great, and I’d watch either at the drop of hat. What scenes do I recall from The Revenant? The stunning cinematography in the opening sequence, the bear sequence and Tom Hardy’s character at the end.

What scenes do I recall from Jeremiah Johnson? The ending, finding the frozen gun, hunting scenes with the trapper (which are at times very funny), the friendships and relationships that are built in the wilderness and during the film.

What I’m getting at, is that in Jeremiah Johnson I remember the human emotions, some stand out characters and lines of funny dialogue. In The Revenant I recall the technical mastery in the making of the film. There’s nothing wrong with remembering a film for technical mastery – I admire much of Kubrick’s work for similar reasons.

So, if you enjoyed The Revenant, I’d recommend that you go back and look at Jeremiah Johnson too, the trailer for which is below (it’s a cheesy trailer for a great film).

Matthew Cooper has been a script writer for hire for over 20 years. He’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award winning episodes of Emmerdale, Eastenders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs. Matthew was winner of the first ever Lloyds Bank Channel Four Film Challenge, the Oscar Moore Screenplay Prize and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer. You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb. You can get in touch with Matthew on matcoop23@yahoo.co.uk