Apocalypto

Apocalypto is probably one of the ten best movies of the year, a compelling action movie with not only adrenaline, but also brains and heart. Its portrayal of the Mayan culture -- including its strange dress, hair styles, costumes, tattoos, body piercing, and decorative scars, as well as its industry, class system, cities, warfare, weapons, myth, and religion -- provide a bizarre and fascinating anthropological backdrop for what is, at its heart, a solid, thrilling, fast paced old fashioned struggle between good guys and bad guys. The movie does have a lot of violence. But the violence is woven into a story with characters we care about. It is a realistic part of the culture being described. And it is not shown in a hyper gruesome manner, as is much of movie violence today. Thus, I found it much less offensive than many reviews had led me to believe I would. Unlike in some movies, I found the subtitles in Apocalypto so easy to read that most of time I forgot I was reading them. If anything the strange language only adds to the tone of exotic strangeness that pervades this unusually good and thrilling movie.

A family drama like no other. Two hours plus that rush at the speed of light. This is cinema. I'm sorry but it is. Don't look for inner meanings. This is the work of one of the greatest artists of our time. Yes, I'm talking about Mel Gibson. And as most of the great artists, he's bound to be controversial, erratic and infuriating sometimes but, thank God he exists. He's always going to surprise us for better or worse in sickness and in health. There are no intellectual under pinnings here. This is an adventure flick that takes us to places we've never been before. It entertains and moves and startles. Masterfully shot at a breathless pace that never, ever, lets go. And then, of course, the acting - if you can call it that. The most remarkable performances by an ensemble cast of unknowns. Gloroious faces that speak louder than words. Well, as you may have guessed. I'm overwhelmed by the experience. Thank you Mel, thank you very much.

This film proves that the crazy guy Mel Gibson is a genius of sorts. With Apocalypto, Mel Gibson has proven it's possible to create a compelling action/adventure film in almost any setting. Gibson's theme is that all great civilizations fail when they begin to rot from the inside. Over the next 2 1/4 hours, he provides glimpses into the degeneracy of the Mayan society on the eve of its encounter with the Spanish conquistadores. However, Apocalypto is not a political tract or a dissertation about why the Mayan age came to an end. Instead, it's a high-octane adventure that concludes with one of the most intense extended chase sequences in recent movie history.

Epic. I fell in love with all the main characters. This movie is so exciting you just can't turn away . Dramatic, exciting, emotional, beautiful story of good versing evil. Even though the story involves the natives of Central America circa 1511 there is a moral implication than can be applied to modern America. The Mayan Empirical governing body had become so vile and corrupt that it's collapse was inevitable. Tribes and villagers who wanted to live solitary and peaceful lives were being attacked by the Mayans. The story is just amazing.

This is a magnificent film, despite the warranted criticism of the Director's personal life and how the film was stifled and stalled by controversy unjustly so. Too bad because this story is epic and monumental, a clash of cultures, sophisticated but primitive civilization encroaches upon those who live by the reality of the self-sustaining jungle, immersed by the understanding of their nature.

It wasn't so long ago that we existed in a world of distorted ritual and superstition, (we still do) where once we had alchemy we now have chemistry. Where once astrology held sway. Astronomy is now the herald of the day. The symbolism of this movie works on so many levels. How the increasingly impoverished Mayas used the science of the eclipse to eclipse the fact of their own empires demise. Using science and observable fact as a mask for sacrifice and superstition. Themes repellent and relevant for today and a warning to those who steal ritual from nature to use as a means of control and power through shock and awe and fear in this we are all diminished by this spectacle of grandeur.

Then there is the Shaman's apprentice bound to his own domain and the world his culture created gaining power as the run goes on. Jaguar sacrifice, man becomes jaguar, and in his own element the hunt is on. The hunter becomes the hunted. The goal is born out from the will of the individual, the rescue and survival of his family and culture combined to himself, his own identity becomes the retreat into the wilderness as an answer to preservation.

We are all striving to survive in these changing times what matters are the quality of our intentions and the nobility immersed in our deeds.One culture advances and the other retreats, or is it just the other way around? I guess the point is does the purity of 'Eden' reside in its simplicity and the idea of living within your means? No matter how flawed this may be.