That these people are Mayan seems almost irrelevant. This voyeuristic perversion is the true thesis of the movie: let's put people in horrifying situations where their lives hang in the balance, and watch what happens in excruciating detail. The captors can easily save their prisoners, but a cruel leader says, 'Wait. The last man in the line is near death and his legs give out, swinging him over the cliff's edge and jeopardizing all the men tied to the trunk. Apocalypto quickly degenerates into a celebration of pain, dismemberment and death that speaks to Gibson's vision, not Durant's.īlu-ray and 1080p is the perfect format to capture the details of Mayan body art and jewelry which were beautifully portrayed in Apocalypto.Īt one point, prisoners tied to a tree trunk are walking along a precipice. The film opens with an eerie vocal while we read the words of historian/philosopher William Durant: 'A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.' Viewers hoping for a serious exposition on this thesis are soon disappointed. But watching Mel Gibson's Apocaylpto, we mainly learn that Mayans hunted and murdered each other in the most brutal ways imaginable. They invented elaborate art and architecture, contributed to mankind's advances in agriculture, math and astronomy and developed the only true written language native to the Americas. Worth setting your Tivo/DVR for.Visually and sonically striking, Gibson’s Apocalypto says more about Mel than about Mayan society. I’ll not defend Mel Gibson’s drunken rants (which I find highly entertaining and can listen to over and over), and I can’t say I’ve liked his acting except the first two Mad Max flicks, but this one is a doozie. I especially love the little fat prince and the shaman’s ability to roll his eyes back in his head. Since it’s on cable nearly every day I’ve watched it dozens of times and it never fails to stun me.

The scene where the hero, forest dwelling Jaguar Paw ( Rudy Youngblood whose career may have also been killed by this film) is taken captive and is about to be sacrificed to the Mayan Sun God (Kinich Ahau, played by the Sun it’s best on screen appearence since Antonioni’s Red Desert) is one of the most compelling, and whacked out scenes ever to (dis)grace the silver screen. DeMille and John Waters were directing simultaneously. Apocalypto has some of the most amazing acting, sets, hair and make-up ever seen on the screen. Am I the only person who thinks this is a great film? On the heels of the $370 million plus grossing, gay/S&M/Catholic soft core porno flick The Passion Of The Christ (2004), alcoholic mess Mel Gibson got to write his own ticket, and then went on to write, produce and direct this spectacular, career ending monstrosity of a movie.

Apocalypto 2006