(CNN) "Spotlight" is basking in the golden glow of Oscar.

"Mad Max: Fury Road" may have won more honors at the 88th Academy Awards, leading all films with six. "The Revenant" won some major prizes, including the first Oscar for actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

But when the last award of the evening was read, it was the little film about Boston Globe investigative reporters digging into a sex abuse scandal involving Catholic priests that was left standing.

"This film gave a voice to survivors," producer Michael Sugar said. "And this film amplifies that voice, which we hope will become a choir that will resonate all the way to the Vatican."

It was one of just two awards "Spotlight" took home. The film also won for Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer's original screenplay.

But until that moment, it looked like "Revenant," about a vengeful trapper in the 1820s, was going to go all the way.

Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best picture: "Spotlight" Hide Caption 1 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Revenant" Hide Caption 2 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best actress: Brie Larson, "Room" Hide Caption 3 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best supporting actor: Mark Rylance, "Bridge of Spies" Hide Caption 4 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best supporting actress: Alicia Vikander, "The Danish Girl" Hide Caption 5 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best director: Alejandro G. Inarritu, "The Revenant" Hide Caption 6 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best original screenplay: "Spotlight," by Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy Hide Caption 7 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best adapted screenplay: "The Big Short," by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay Hide Caption 8 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best costume design: "Mad Max: Fury Road" (Jenny Beavan) Hide Caption 9 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best production design: "Mad Max: Fury Road" (Production design by Colin Gibson; set decoration by Lisa Thompson) Hide Caption 10 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best makeup and hairstyling: "Mad Max: Fury Road" (Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin) Hide Caption 11 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best cinematography: "The Revenant" (Emmanuel Lubezki) Hide Caption 12 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best film editing: "Mad Max: Fury Road" (Margaret Sixel) Hide Caption 13 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best sound editing: "Mad Max: Fury Road" (Mark Mangini and David White) Hide Caption 14 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best sound mixing: "Mad Max: Fury Road" (Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo) Hide Caption 15 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best visual effects: "Ex Machina" (Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett) Hide Caption 16 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best animated feature film: "Inside Out" Hide Caption 17 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best animated short film: "Bear Story" Hide Caption 18 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best documentary feature: "Amy" Hide Caption 19 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best documentary, short subject: "A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness" Hide Caption 20 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best live-action short film: "Stutterer" Hide Caption 21 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best foreign-language film: "Son of Saul" (Hungary) Hide Caption 22 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best original score: "The Hateful Eight" (Ennio Morricone) Hide Caption 23 of 24 Photos: Oscars 2016: Winners Best original song: "Writing's on the Wall" from "Spectre," written by Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith Hide Caption 24 of 24

Alejandro González Iñárritu notched his second straight Oscar in the directing category; he's the first person to pull off that feat since Joseph L. Mankiewicz in 1949-50. The film's Emmanuel Lubezki also kept a streak going, winning his third straight Oscar for cinematography.

But the big story was DiCaprio, who finally won an Oscar with his fifth acting nomination.

After taking some time to thank Iñárritu, co-star Tom Hardy and director Martin Scorsese, among others, DiCaprio put in a plug for environmentalism.

"Climate change is real. It is happening right now; we needed to go to the tip of South America to find snow. ... It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species," he said. "We need to support leaders around the world who speak for indigenous people, for humanity, the voices who have been drowned out by the politics of greed. Do not take this planet for granted. ... I do not take this night for granted. Thank you."

Some shockers

Though most awards were expected, given the expertise of close-watching Oscar handicappers these days, the night wasn't without its shockers.

Mark Rylance won best supporting actor for his performance as a Soviet agent in "Bridge of Spies."

The category included Sylvester Stallone, who was widely believed to be the front-runner for his performance as Rocky Balboa in "Creed" -- 39 years after he first played the role in "Rocky."

"Writing's on the Wall," Sam Smith's song from the James Bond film "Spectre," won best song -- an announcement that came not long after Lady Gaga brought the house down with a performance of her nominated song, " 'Til It Happens to You."

After a streak of technical awards to "Mad Max," "Ex Machina" won for visual effects.

Ennio Morricone, the legendary composer of such film scores as "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and "The Untouchables," finally won an Oscar, his first in six nominations. It was for Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight."

And, in perhaps the biggest shock of all, the show was rather brisk, lasting just over 3½ hours. That's actually longer than some shows of recent years, including the 2011 show with James Franco and Anne Hathaway, but given the program's propensity for pushing four hours, it's not something to be taken for granted.

Rock comes out hard

Perhaps that was at least partly due to the host, the no-holds-barred Chris Rock.

Rock wasted no time in taking on #OscarsSoWhite and diversity issues that had been in the news since the nominations were announced in mid-January.

After the obligatory montage of the year's movies, Rock came out and said he'd counted at least 15 black people in the video -- and, just like that, he was off.

"If they nominated hosts, I wouldn't even get this job," he said. "You'd be watching Neil Patrick Harris right now."

Noting the lack of black nominees through most of Oscar history, he pointed out that in the '60s, "black people did not protest because we had real things to protest at the time. We were too busy being raped and lynched to worry about best cinematography."

And "In Memoriam," the yearly segment of people who had passed away in the previous year, would get an addition, Rock said.

"In the In Memoriam package, it's just going to be black people shot by the cops on the way to the movies."

Some of his lines earned gasps from the audience, and the New York Daily News believed he had gone too far.

A look at Monday's front page:

CHRIS WENT TOO FAR - @ShaunKing: Lynching jokes appalling https://t.co/IgJNrlPNsc pic.twitter.com/ZnczwbT4Eh — New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) February 29, 2016

But his stint appeared to have gone well overall.

Rock went back to the Magic Johnson Theaters in Compton to ask African-American moviegoers about the year's nominated films. Almost none of the patrons had seen them.

And he even helped his daughter sell Girl Scout cookies.

Beating the bear

In the other major awards, Brie Larson won best actress for her performance in "Room," and Alicia Vikander won best supporting actress for her work in "The Danish Girl."

"Inside Out" won best animated feature.

In recent weeks, it appeared that "The Revenant" would top them all. The film featured gripping photography and DiCaprio's intense performance and made a set piece of a vicious bear attack. It had won some major prizes, including the Directors Guild prize for Iñárritu, and the Motion Picture Academy rarely splits honors between director and picture.

But "Spotlight," which had been quietly collecting honors of its own, came through on deadline.

The 88th Academy Awards aired from Hollywood's Dolby Theatre.