Apocalypto (B- or 2.5/4 stars)
As a director, the infamous Mel Gibson Is taking a stab at a historical action/adventure flick, 'Apocalypto'. This film tells the story of Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) & his ferocious journey to get back to his family after being taken away by Mayan police warriors to sacrifice him for a Sun God. The 1st ½ of the film entrances. You enjoy the villagers and grow to like Jaguar Paw. And you are as stunned and confused as Jaguar when he and his friends are taken on a death march to a nearby Mayan city for judgment. But the 2nd ½ of the film is frantic in its action, its insignificant killings, & its anti-climactic conclusion.
Set during the turbulent end of the Mayan Civilization, Jaguar's admirable innocence is ripped from him when he watches local warriors ravage his village, kill men, rape the women, & tie any remaining survivors up on an assembly line march to a large city. Along their arduous trek through the forest, they encountered a dying girl who spits out a hokey prophecy which details the imminent end of the world as they know it ... Apocalypto. Some men are spooked, but most drudge on to the city. Once there, the women are sold to slavery. And thousands of plague-infected onlookers view/cheer as these men's hearts are mercilessly ripped out & heads chopped off for sacrifice. This pleases the indigent city folk, the concerned royal family, & their God.
Oddly, I didn't mind these scenes because I took it as fact (much the same way I tried to endure Jesus' fate during Mel's Passion of the Christ). The heart ripping/head rolling ceremony is fascinating & numbingly visceral to watch. There are 2 theories surrounding the sacrifice rituals of both the Aztecs & Mayans. 1) The bloody offerings were to meet a quota for a Sun God so that their land could be replenished after a devastating agricultural plague. 2) The Aztecs & Mayans were cannibals who actually consumed the blood and flesh to survive the devastating plague. Really, by most accounts, it was probably a little of both. Yet Mel Gibson seems to prefer the former theory in this film; that's fine.
What isn't fine is what ensues after the Mayan city sacrifice debacle. Jaguar is able to escape his doomed destiny (by way of weather, & a bizarre Mayan gladiatorial 'game', of sorts) and launches into 'his' Forest. He wants to live; & the foot race back to his vacant town is all-the-more important because he needs to retrieve his wife, son, & expectant child from a well that he placed them in for safety from the warriors. This whole section is a maddening chase of Mayan police after Jaguar. Since he's an able hunter-gatherer, he lives up to his name & uses speed, forest traps and tricks-of-the-trade to stump, kill, & side-step a capture by the kamikaze-like warriors. But dying is no matter for them. They. want. Jaguar. Paw. To achieve his initial escape from the city, Jaguar had to do something terrible to the main police-warrior. But why are 10 others hunting him down like he's Osama Bin Laden? Plus, the last 5 minutes of the film is historically incorrect & very anti-climactic (when considering the preceding plot).
As I type, I realize that there's much to appreciate. The cinematography is vivid, lush, & beautiful. The score is haunting. The production design of the city temples, the ancient costumes, & the make-up depicting the many class cultures of the Mayan civilization is simply AMAZING. And Rudy Youngblood does a commendable job. Not unlike Naomi Watts, I find him to have very warm, vulnerable eyes that make you pull for him no matter what; it's a good cinematic quality to have.
But there are just too many intangible things that occur throughout the 2-plus hours that prevent me from loving this. Gibson creates an action-adventure flick (and not a great one), yet leaves the resounding pertinence of the Mayan civilization as a HUGE afterthought; it is just a setting & nothing more. No one will learn anything new and/or important about the Mayans that you already had known. I am bummed by this. 'Apocalypto' is entertaining at times, but it mainly frustrates. The dialogue is questionable is several instances. The 'intent' on capturing Jaguar Paw meanders. And human sacrifice aside ... the superfluous, abounding human sufferings & insignificant deaths (kill-for-killing's sake) is just way over the top.
Set during the turbulent end of the Mayan Civilization, Jaguar's admirable innocence is ripped from him when he watches local warriors ravage his village, kill men, rape the women, & tie any remaining survivors up on an assembly line march to a large city. Along their arduous trek through the forest, they encountered a dying girl who spits out a hokey prophecy which details the imminent end of the world as they know it ... Apocalypto. Some men are spooked, but most drudge on to the city. Once there, the women are sold to slavery. And thousands of plague-infected onlookers view/cheer as these men's hearts are mercilessly ripped out & heads chopped off for sacrifice. This pleases the indigent city folk, the concerned royal family, & their God.
Oddly, I didn't mind these scenes because I took it as fact (much the same way I tried to endure Jesus' fate during Mel's Passion of the Christ). The heart ripping/head rolling ceremony is fascinating & numbingly visceral to watch. There are 2 theories surrounding the sacrifice rituals of both the Aztecs & Mayans. 1) The bloody offerings were to meet a quota for a Sun God so that their land could be replenished after a devastating agricultural plague. 2) The Aztecs & Mayans were cannibals who actually consumed the blood and flesh to survive the devastating plague. Really, by most accounts, it was probably a little of both. Yet Mel Gibson seems to prefer the former theory in this film; that's fine.
What isn't fine is what ensues after the Mayan city sacrifice debacle. Jaguar is able to escape his doomed destiny (by way of weather, & a bizarre Mayan gladiatorial 'game', of sorts) and launches into 'his' Forest. He wants to live; & the foot race back to his vacant town is all-the-more important because he needs to retrieve his wife, son, & expectant child from a well that he placed them in for safety from the warriors. This whole section is a maddening chase of Mayan police after Jaguar. Since he's an able hunter-gatherer, he lives up to his name & uses speed, forest traps and tricks-of-the-trade to stump, kill, & side-step a capture by the kamikaze-like warriors. But dying is no matter for them. They. want. Jaguar. Paw. To achieve his initial escape from the city, Jaguar had to do something terrible to the main police-warrior. But why are 10 others hunting him down like he's Osama Bin Laden? Plus, the last 5 minutes of the film is historically incorrect & very anti-climactic (when considering the preceding plot).
As I type, I realize that there's much to appreciate. The cinematography is vivid, lush, & beautiful. The score is haunting. The production design of the city temples, the ancient costumes, & the make-up depicting the many class cultures of the Mayan civilization is simply AMAZING. And Rudy Youngblood does a commendable job. Not unlike Naomi Watts, I find him to have very warm, vulnerable eyes that make you pull for him no matter what; it's a good cinematic quality to have.
But there are just too many intangible things that occur throughout the 2-plus hours that prevent me from loving this. Gibson creates an action-adventure flick (and not a great one), yet leaves the resounding pertinence of the Mayan civilization as a HUGE afterthought; it is just a setting & nothing more. No one will learn anything new and/or important about the Mayans that you already had known. I am bummed by this. 'Apocalypto' is entertaining at times, but it mainly frustrates. The dialogue is questionable is several instances. The 'intent' on capturing Jaguar Paw meanders. And human sacrifice aside ... the superfluous, abounding human sufferings & insignificant deaths (kill-for-killing's sake) is just way over the top.