Apocalypto | Review

Gibson’s sticks to gore, ancient civilizations, entertainment value but not the message.

It contains the sort of elements that would normally be a recipe for box office disaster. Subtitles, foreign languages and unknown actors in principle roles normally don’t bring droves of movie-goers into theatre seats. Such as his previous two outings, this brings audiences to worlds that the folks at the History Channel consider golden programming, and while he may not have directed enough films to merit a half semester’s worth film studies course, Mel Gibson has a filmmaking ego that matches the scope of his imagination. His third film may be short on the explanatory details, but like daily headlines from the war in Iraq, whenever you combine decapitations, civilizations in decline, families in peril, torture and jarring violence into one storyline then you have all the elements for what many would consider as the ideal counter-programming to the chick flick. Apocalypto taps into the ferociousness of the warrior, travels at a speed of a panther nearing a kill and paints itself in a blood-soaked red.

Borrowing from many popular films including his filmmaking debut Braveheart, (plus one sequence of a cool premonition reminds of Linda Blair’s famed The Exorcist character) scribes Farhad Safinia and Gibson cover several centuries worth of Mayan and Aztec culture through customs, costumes and artifacts, but the screenplay banks on a simplified odds in favor of David instead of Goliath narrative and the marathon chase-movie formula (one that resembles closely that of Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner) to bring Mayan mythology into the mainstream. Much of the film’s octane counts of the presence of fear – perhaps posing as an underlying post 9/11 commentary the film sees the protagonist defy his own death sentence and several of the possible theories that might have lead to extinction – natural causes, the white man, disease, holocaust at the hands of another tribe, etc. Curiously, the script intially draws the viewer in with a humor-filled sequence about manhood that is easily understood in any language.

The film comes well packaged – production value and action sequences perfectly detail the plight of the hero in the vibrant Jaguar Paw and the scope of his battle. For an action film – there are some clear choices in camera movement and what the frame will incoprpate. Some of the battle scene ssuffer from digitial bluriness, but the brutality within the scenes will keep viewers looking away for another set of reasons. Not knowing, one might think that several different film stocks might have been used when in all actually, the entire film is digitally shot on what they call a new, high definition Genesis camera system. Cinematographer Dean Semler does an excellent job of setting up the lenses for rainforest backdrops, on quick sand-like patches, or on the 360 degree chopping block scene.

Gibson’s nurtures his cast of actors, none of them look out of place because they physically look the part and benefit from fab make-up and costume design – they certainly merit action figure status. High marks go to the tempo – pacing and editing are key factors in why this works, why it engages the viewer and why many won’t care if it reaches them on a cerebral level.

Rating 3 stars