Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Apocalypto (2006)


Opening quote: "A great civilisation is not conquered from without until it is destroyed from within.” — W. Durant

Set in the Mayan civilisation, a peaceful tribe is brutally attacked by warriors on the rulers' command seeking human beings and slaves as sacrifices for their gods. Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood), a young man captured for sacrifice, flees to avoid his fate.

The fighting scenes and massacre are pretty graphic, although not as disturbing as the torture in The Passion of the Christ. I would like to think that the glimpses this film provides of Mayan civilisation are in meticulous detail, although I expected to see more and less of the boring 'running through the forest' scenes. The scenes of captured villagers running around in blue body paint reminds me of William Wallace in Braveheart. Gibson casted actors with little or no experience at all, but they are quite good. The whole film is in an ancient Mayan language (with easy–to–follow English subtitles), which lends an air of authenticity to the happenings.

Rating: 2/5.

2 comments:

Mimzzzy said...

i love this movie. brutal but good.
Good review skyjuice.

SkyJuice said...

Thank you, mimzzy, and thanks for dropping by!