Apocalypto

What is it with Gibson and suffering? Probably his extreme Catholic faith; but Braveheart, The Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto, all feature sacrifice of the most torturous and sadistic kind imagainable. The violence in Apocalypto is the kind which banned Cannibal Holocaust and other such video nasties in the mid 80s. It is amazing how this ritual torture is considered mainstream entertainment and perhaps our decadent viewing habits are leading us down the same slippery path as Gibson's Mayans.
However nothing should take away the fact that Apocalypto is a rip-roaring chase of a movie which not only pounds the audience into submission with bone crunching action, but also massages them gently with Dean Semler's sumptuous cinematography.
As historically inacurate as Gibson's piece is he manages to transport his audience into a completly different universe. He does this by the superb use of the Mayan language, the rich jungle setting and some fabulous body art which the director seems to have retained from his time in Mad Max 3.
It is the comparison between the sophisticated but decadent Mayans and the simple but graceful tribesmen which really give Apocalypto weight and remind us of our own predicament. The Mayans are corrupt, gorging themselves on human sacrifice, consuming their enviroment at an alarming rate and dressing to excess. They are the ultimate consumer society, feeding off of misery, superstition, and fear. This is visually revealed by the obese infant present at the ritual killings in the city. They are the tabloid classes of their day, believing that greater rates of death will solve their woes, just as we clamber for a return to the death penalty and a more draconian system of rule to straighten out our own moral panics.
The tribesmen in contrast are beautiful to look at, not so grotesquely dressed, but sleek and at one with the forest, only violent when pushed hideously and ultimately believe in the traditional family unit. The Mayan women are largely absent and those who are seen are painted heavily and are portrayed as enjoying the mass slaughter rather than as the bringers of life. The Mayans seem to be a patriarchal society and this would help to explain their excessive violence.
Gibson's politics run all the way through this film but even after the questionable arrival of the Spanish at the end, the audience will have almost forgotten his very dicey rhetoric of the past. Perhaps that's what Apocalypto was designed to do.

As a rule I tend to avoid subtitled movies, as I feel that you lose something in the translation, Apocalypto some how removes this by being not heavy on dialogue and focuses on the detail and the visual story of Jaguar Paw,
The wife found it hard to watch at the start of the film as their was some heart wrenching moments that she found difficult to deal with but by the end of the film she was routing for the bad guys to die a horrible death, (women ill never understand them).
There were a few times I found myself sitting on the edge of the sofa and other times holding back a tear. I would think that if you were the type of person that found the Passion a good film then you going to find this film being better..

This film is a epic heart stopping mythic action adventure, set against the turbulant times of the once great Mayan civilisation. Also this is Mel Gibsons greatest direction to date. The film is very brutal, and the sacrifice scenes in the middle of the film are graphic, including a brilliantly rendered point of view from a decapitaded head, as it rolls down the steps. After this the film turns into a anciant version of FIRST BLOOD, where the hunters are the hunted. The film is beautiful to look at and the rain forest is as much a character as the actors. As with The Passion Of The Christ , the film is subtitled and spoken in Mayan. This realy does add to the film as any other way would seem faulse and off putting ( watch the similar but far inferior Pathfinder, to see what I mean ) This film is just a riverting action epic on the gratest scale. A must buy !

This film is a epic heart stopping mythic action adventure, set against the turbulant times of the once great Mayan civilisation. Also this is Mel Gibsons greatest direction to date. The film is very brutal, and the sacrifice scenes in the middle of the film are graphic, including a brilliantly rendered point of view from a decapitaded head, as it rolls down the steps. After this the film turns into a anciant version of FIRST BLOOD, where the hunters are the hunted. The film is beautiful to look at and the rain forest is as much a character as the actors. As with The Passion Of The Christ , the film is subtitled and spoken in Mayan. This realy does add to the film as any other way would seem faulse and off putting ( watch the similar but far inferior Pathfinder, to see what I mean ) This film is just a riverting action epic on the gratest scale. A must buy !

This movie in my opinion is a true epic, in every sense of the word. This film gives you a unique inside into Mayan civilisation, the film has a documentary feel to it as if these people exist today and cameras have been taken in.
The acting is superb and the storyline in strong and there is a great sense of believeabilty in the stroy. The movie captures you from start to finish and really sucks you in, and doesn't let you go till the end and for me that what makes a superb epic movie.
Mel Gibson is a brilliant director and i hope his next project is as successful and brilliant as this was. This is a movie you must see before you die and can be watched time and time again and you will never be boared of veiwing it a true masterpiece!