Apocalypto (2006) dir: Mel Gibson Two Hours and Twenty Minutes of what could have been exquisitely filmed chasing and torture murdered by a director who wants to be the next Oliver Stone and mixing media like it was cake, and adding in clichés like they were nothing.
Apocalypto is Mel Gibson's homage to the action genre, and human torture. That is humans torturing other humans, killing animals, insects, etc etc. And its all supposed to be oh so tribal. Yet, as many of us realize long before the first frame, this was written by a White European descendant.
Mel glibly opens the film with the quote, "'A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.' - Ariel Durant" which notifies us that something is about to happen. Then, we merrily watch the all too European happiness of the supposedly native Mexican tribal culture. Only to have them be taken as captives by the Mayans as part of the eclipse ritual.
But, some stupid 10 year old girl who has "The Sickness" has an apocalyptic warning about jaguars, eclipses, and Colonel Kurtz. So, then we get to watch beheadings for the purpose of ritual, until the eclipse is over after which the rest of the captives are killed for sport. Except for one, Jaguar Paw, who gets chased through the forest.
Did I mention that Jaguar Paw also left his almost-due wife and first-born son down a pit during the attack. This sets up the ticking clock for the third act when it downpours hard enough to fill the pit to make them drown. And the wife also induces labor on herself because she was trying to get out. Also, don't pregnant women know how to float? And shouldn't children learn how to float or swim if they know how to talk? Seriously...this is not new-fangled information.
But, seriously, how dumb are these natives? No climbing rocks while pregnant. You just got a dead animal to eat, you can survive for a bit longer in the pit. Or, duck if a spear is chucked straight at you. Or dodge. Something. Don't be dumb.
So, besides all this are the stupid call outs to other FAMOUS movies from before. The Fugitive's waterfall dive is merely one example of how exasperated I became with this movie.
To me, the biggest tragedy is Gibson's use of HDDV stock. He mixed in DV with some 35mm and some 16mm. And, it was extremely distracting. I HATE DV on the big screen. HATE IT HATE IT HATE IT. I can tell the digital artifacts within two frames. I wanted the lush colors of The Thin Red Line. I wanted the gorgeous shots of 2001. I wanted something visual. Not washed out greens and whites. BOOOO.
The movie has the finale of bringing in the Europeans. Hence, his glib opening comment and stating that we were going to conquer this group anyways because they destroyed themselves. They were weak, we were superior. We justifiably won by destroying a rotten civilization. Such a moral person, that Mr. Gibson is, isn't he? But, the movie does move along. And, even though you don't care after the first act is over (or at least I didn't), there are still some points of interest along the way making it momentarily fun and it keeps the movie rolling along.
C-
Apocalypto is Mel Gibson's homage to the action genre, and human torture. That is humans torturing other humans, killing animals, insects, etc etc. And its all supposed to be oh so tribal. Yet, as many of us realize long before the first frame, this was written by a White European descendant.
Mel glibly opens the film with the quote, "'A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.' - Ariel Durant" which notifies us that something is about to happen. Then, we merrily watch the all too European happiness of the supposedly native Mexican tribal culture. Only to have them be taken as captives by the Mayans as part of the eclipse ritual.
But, some stupid 10 year old girl who has "The Sickness" has an apocalyptic warning about jaguars, eclipses, and Colonel Kurtz. So, then we get to watch beheadings for the purpose of ritual, until the eclipse is over after which the rest of the captives are killed for sport. Except for one, Jaguar Paw, who gets chased through the forest.
Did I mention that Jaguar Paw also left his almost-due wife and first-born son down a pit during the attack. This sets up the ticking clock for the third act when it downpours hard enough to fill the pit to make them drown. And the wife also induces labor on herself because she was trying to get out. Also, don't pregnant women know how to float? And shouldn't children learn how to float or swim if they know how to talk? Seriously...this is not new-fangled information.
But, seriously, how dumb are these natives? No climbing rocks while pregnant. You just got a dead animal to eat, you can survive for a bit longer in the pit. Or, duck if a spear is chucked straight at you. Or dodge. Something. Don't be dumb.
So, besides all this are the stupid call outs to other FAMOUS movies from before. The Fugitive's waterfall dive is merely one example of how exasperated I became with this movie.
To me, the biggest tragedy is Gibson's use of HDDV stock. He mixed in DV with some 35mm and some 16mm. And, it was extremely distracting. I HATE DV on the big screen. HATE IT HATE IT HATE IT. I can tell the digital artifacts within two frames. I wanted the lush colors of The Thin Red Line. I wanted the gorgeous shots of 2001. I wanted something visual. Not washed out greens and whites. BOOOO.
The movie has the finale of bringing in the Europeans. Hence, his glib opening comment and stating that we were going to conquer this group anyways because they destroyed themselves. They were weak, we were superior. We justifiably won by destroying a rotten civilization. Such a moral person, that Mr. Gibson is, isn't he? But, the movie does move along. And, even though you don't care after the first act is over (or at least I didn't), there are still some points of interest along the way making it momentarily fun and it keeps the movie rolling along.
C-