Well I was really glad I saw this. I had the sense that I had seen the essence in the trailer but not so. There was a marvellous sense of a relentless and tension-inducing steady tramp throughout the whole film even though the essence was very simple..mainly a revenge tragedy set in the brutally and harshly unforgiving yet rapturously beautiful West.
DiCaprio is impressive but best actor? The role demanded much physically ( major understatement!) but in terms of interactions with others through dialogue, character development etc there is very little here. I did not gave the feeling that only he could have done/ created this role which, I think is an important characteristic of any truly remarkable/award- winning performance. You have surely got to feel/believe that only that one person could gave created that part.
Hardy was very tensely fine although his pouty lips did sometimes distract/seem very inappropriate for the character, place and situation in which he was.
Loved the music. Quite intriguingly spasmodic, very varied and iconoclastic but always totally right for the scene..and it often came unexpectedly. Not so much during landscape shots which meant that three was no distraction and one could more directly experience what one saw and o felt more empathy and connection with the characters ( well, character as DiC is the central focus from the beginning to the end)
Worth seeing.