After months of waiting, "The Revenant" has finally been revealed.

The film by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu finally premiered on Monday for awards voters and reaction was mixed.

Many critics were reserved about the film due to its two hour and 36 minute length and the fact that it was mostly silent and also extremely harsh.

However, there were two things that people agreed on. The first was Leonardo DiCaprio's stunning performance in the film. DiCaprio's performance is extremely physical with very little dialogue. That is very new for the actor who has been in many dialogue-driven films and has been nominated for them.

From the outset most pundits have placed DiCaprio as a front-runner to win the Oscar and this film will likely bring him that win. The actor has been nominated four times for the Oscar for his work on "What's Eating Gilbert Grape," "Blood Diamond," "The Aviator" and "The Wolf Wall Street." With slim competition this year, this could end up being his year.

The second thing pundits are talking about after the screening is Emmanuel Lubezki's stunning cinematography. When the film first started production it was announced that the cinematographer would do the film with natural light and use no artificial light sources. This was of course not new for Lubezki as he shot "The Tree of Life" with practicals and natural light. For "Birdman," he also used practicals and avoided any lighting setups. However, for this film, he was brought to a cool terrain in Canada, which allowed him to show his abilities with snow and the wilderness.

While Lubezki has won two Oscars in a row for "Gravity" and "Birdman," it is very likely he could take another for his work on "The Revenant." This year's competition is tough but his strongest competitor is Roger Deakins for "Sicario," a film that has a remote chance at Best Picture and which was released in September. The Academy usually chooses cinematography that is showy and different and with critical support expect Lubezki to score a hat trick this upcoming February.

Whether the film is a Best Picture or Director Contender is still up in the air. With a year that has no front-runner, no box office hits and a wide open race, it will depend on how the much the critics like it and how the Academy embraces it.

"The Revenant" is slated for release on Dec. 25 and also stars Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson and Will Poulter. Fox is releasing the movie.

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