Mel Gibson's Apocalypto (Widescreen Edition)

I initially didn't want to see this, but a friend of mine whose opinion I trust told me it's a great film. He said "yeah, Gibson's crazy, but he's a great filmmaker". So I rented it, and I'm glad I did.

This is a great film, a really stunning piece of work that's remarkable in many ways. There are no big name stars, and most of the actor are non-professionals. It's primarily told through imagery, and the little dialogue there is is in Mayan. It's very bloody and violent, though not the gore fest that many critics made it out to be. It's a very good film, filled with truly awe inspiring scenes, especially in the middle of the film when the action reaches the Mayan city. The Mayan city sequences alone make the film worth watching, as they are astounding and the best of Gibson's career as a director. The Mayan city was all a set, one of the biggest ever built, and kudos to the production designer for this magnificence. After the action leaves the city, the film is still mesmerizing with a great chase sequence ending the film. The action is well choreographed, the film looks sumptuous, especially for HD video,
and the performances that Gibson obtains from his cast of mostly non-professional actors is nothing short of amazing. They're so natural, realistic, and authentic. There's no self consciousness at all on their part, and this can be attributed to the excellence of the filmmaking. The costume design, makeup, and set design are all excellent, and Gibson deserves full credit for making one of the most unique films in cinema history.

The first third of the film is a bit tired, with silly dialogue and situations that are reminscent of a teenage comedy. The opening scene is especially over the top with grossness, but after the village is attacked, the film improves astronomically. After Gibson's appalling The Passion of the Christ, I really didn't want to see this, but my friend talked me into it. While I don't like Gibson the person (he's said remaks that are anti-Semetic, sexist, homophobic, and is prone to religious extremism), he's made a great epic here that can stand along Braveheart. If you don't like Gibson as a person, you should try and put it aside and see this excellent film.

I was unable to watch this movie because it didn't have the correct "region code". I just got a blu-ray player, so I am relatively new to this whole experience. My only advice would be to make sure your Blu-ray player will play this disc before you buy it.

Gibson obviously believes in human value through suffering, so much so that his movies are starting to look more like random scenes from a Pasolini adaption of the writings of Marquis de Sade.
There's a diminishing sense of purpose or resolve for his characters in his directorial output, a psychological disconnect, a lack of empathy where suffering is a goal unto itself. Everybody just needs to get punished in his movies, it seems.Possibly for the crime of being human.
You know;-Original sin.
The younger or more innocent the victim, the harsher the torture. Human degradation meticulously recorded and catalogued.
With the now trademark extended-slow-motion-torture-scenes-of-innocents-in-lush-rainy-landscapes he seems more and more to forget to actually tell a story. Let alone let justice be served.
Compared to other directors focusing on ethics like for instance Clint Eastwood, where you get a sense of purpose and justice through it all, Gibson comes off like like an old fire and brimstone preacher. Without the redemption part.
Don't get surprised if his next project is a 3 hour+ epic retelling of Noa's Ark.
Then he can actually (slowly)kill off almost everyone on this whole bastid planet.
The first 20 minutes of the movie would be old N stoically hammering away in the rain.Token intro done with and the funfest starts:
People of all creed and race; slowly flailing men,women and children coughing,crying in the rain and drowning, pleading to no avail.Pan and scan, the whole world. Drowning.
-Mothers giving birth whilst drowning; going under, newborn bobbing up to the surface, -a glint of hope; getting dragged down after the mother by the umbilical-cord. Camera following down in the churning waters cataloguing every dying spasm of the baby. And so on for three hours-. The last 40 seconds will show a small plant sticking out of the water.
Gibson gets another Oscar.

This film is almost surrealistic in its beauty- and vividly violent action, and the sets, cinematography, and costumes were incredible. I will not bother to comment on the accuracy/inaccuracy debates that seem to be such an issue with some viewer's, as this movie never pretended to be a documentary, and if it had been I probably would not have watched it. What it was, was a gorgeous, action-packed adventure film.

Rudy Youngblood, and Dalia Hernandez (Jaguar Paw, and his wife, Seven) were wonderfully cast as the two leads, and Raoul Trujillo created a character worthy of Anthony Hopkins.

Mel Gibson, despite what anyone says about his personal beliefs, or off-screen habits, created a richly-layered, lustrous gem of a movie.

Version: U.S.A / Region A
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
MPEG-4 AVC BD-50
Running time: 2:18:21
Movie size: 34,63 GB
Disc size: 39,66 GB
Average video bit rate: 23.87 Mbps
LPCM 5.1 6912Kbps 24-bit/48Khz Mayan
Dolby Digital 5.1 640kbps English
Audio Commentary Dolby 2.0 192kbps - English
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish, English (Audio Commentary)

#Audio Commentary with Optional Subtitles
#Deleted Scene With Optional Commentary
#Becoming Mayan: Making Apocalypto (Optional English Subtitles available)
#Movie Showcase