Absolutely awful. I barely thought that it was possible for a film to be as misanthropic, voyeristic and sadisticly violent as Gibsons Passion of the Christ. But it looks like he may have topped himself here. What is it with that man and scenes of graphic mutilation and torture?
He wants to make sure that the Jews know he means business! And if they mes with Mel, they'll get some of it too!
As a fan of Zombie movies, I see Mel's violence as average at best from a pure gore standpoint. If it upsets you that much, then I guess he does a good job of using human drama to accent the violence.
Well, I don't watch zombie movies. But the violence in those is cartoonish. Gibson likes to portray his realistically, and as part of "serious" filmmaking. Apocalypto contains slit throats, severed heads, cut-out hearts, impaled body parts, a pit of corpses, a face chewed by a panther, spears through the back, all the while focusing its camera lovingly on the terrified expressions of those being killed and maimed.
I'm reliably informed that the film totally misrepresents the Mayan culture. In fact, the entire thrust of the film seems to be that it was so corrupt that it deserved to be destroyed by the Spanish invaders.
7Yeah I don't get that part. Since when do Spanish invaders have contact with the Mayans? I was under the impression they were mostly deteriorated by then anyway. And since when do we know "reliable" sources on exactly what Mayan culture entailed? They were a great civillization but we do know that violence was part of their culture. We also know they collapsed all by themselves without much help from the Europeans this time.
So the Anasazi built those homes up on the cliffs for the views, eh? And no, I'm not saying there were Mayans on the Colorado Plateau, but why are we supposed to believe that ancient americans were all sweetness and light, building temples and tending corn?
I heard somewhere that Mel Gibson used the Mayans to portray George Bush sending innocent men and women to the slaughter for no reason at all with his war. The people who captured that village are recruiters for the US army. There. henryhill should like it now.
There's a happy medium. They were portrayed as unredeemable savages in this. Kind of like most people in Gibsons movies, come to think of it.
One other thing. Are the protagonists of the movie not Mayans? If anything, it seems like Gibson is making a idylic rural paradise vs urban corruption kind of theme. Braveheart was kind of the same way.
Saw this movie tonite. Here are some observations: 1. Wow. Whether you like Mel Gibson or not, this was a fantastic frakkin' movie. Fucking genius. 2. I don't see any bullshit political agendas, hidden messages about society, or anything else here. Just a rip-roaring action piece from start to finish, in a milieu that's completely fresh. Ho-lee, shit! 3. The part with the panther was fuckin' awesome. As soon as you saw the baby in the tree with him, you knew exactly what was gonna happen next. There's nothing like a collective 'oh shit!' from the audience at a key moment. It was great. 4. When Jaguar Paw was standing at the bottom of the waterfall shouting defiance at his captors, all I was hearing was: "I am Wind In His Hair! I am Wind In His Hair! Can you see that I am not afraid of you!" 5. Shades of Predator in the jungle chase. We see the hunted become the hunter, and the chief baddie gets it almost exactly the same way the predator did. 6. Over the top moments: Giving birth in the cistern as it filled up with water. The too-timely appearance of the Dagos aboard their ships at the end. 7. I chuckled to myself when we saw the boatload of Spaniards heading for the shore, complete with the friar. I thought to myself: Jaguar Paw, my friend, if you though the fuckin' Mayans were bad, you ain't seen nothing yet! Incredible movie. SPR levels of realistic violence and gore. Nothing like getting a look at your own beating heart right before you get decaffienated. One nitpick: There was a full moon the night after the ecclipse. Sorry, that's astrodynamically impossible. Solar eclipses happen on the new moon. They were 180 out on that one, literally. Minor nitpick. 8/10. Enthralling, captivating entertainment. Forget all the Mel Gibson bullshit and just go see it.
Well, he flat out said in the comercials over here "Apocalypto means birth, unfortunatly for something new to be born, something old has to die". Or words to those effect.
