Apocalypto (spoilers within)

Elki

So, I saw the trailer and poster long ago. "A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within." OK, fine, I like the settings, so I'll see it one day. 3 years later, I did.

It turns out that quote is absolutely inessential to the movie. It's a hunter-becomes-the-hunted film, and a well done one. The first hour is spent developing the main character and getting you to care for him. He's funny (And for you Blunted... the balls), his dad is funny (I went back just to watch that scene where he gives Blunted the leaves, again. It is wonderful), he is more perceptive the others, his family is cute, etc. Then shit happens.

By the time that dude says “I’m going to peel off his skin and make him watch me wear it.” you will probably wince, because you don't want anything to happen to him, and then the chase is one. And a damn fine 45 minutes of chasing it was. All with exquisite cinematography in a beautiful setting.

He was Jaguar Paw. It was his forest. And he was not afraid.

freelancerbob

I recall seeing it at the cinema. It was OK I guess. I mean I wasn't too excited about it, but it didn't disappoint. Yeah, that thing with the leaves, pretty funny.

SQUIRREL!

Everything I heard about this movie, absolutely everything, said that it was a terrible shitheap of a film, so I avoided it like an oncoming train made of hot vomit. Despite that, I've always had this deep and unfulfilled urge to see it just because it looked and sounded like an interesting concept.

Qliphoth

Its probably the only adventure film I've enjoyed since I was 12.

dr0neboy

I absolutley agree that this was one of the better films of 2007(?) and that the whole

"A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within."

...was a bit stupid to have at the beginning of the film. IIRC some have considered this to be a Gibson-ish attempt to "justify" the european colonization and the, in several aspects, violent religious conversion of the south american indians, and to an extent "debunk" that this ultimately led to the end of Mayan civilization.

I dunno really. The use of the quoute as an introduction to the film and the people have caused a bit of headache for me personally and even though Gibson seems a bit mad (in a good way?) it still doesnt play that he would blame the destruction of an entire civilization on some savage human sacrifice (IMO this idea really doesnt work very well with the story either).

Falx

It's really not a terrible film at all. It's almost Passion level violent though, so if you're squeamish - avoid.

Morgenstern

I remember seeing this and then getting food poisoning from the popcorn I had during the movie which involved my puking into a garbage can outside the cineplex.

Ah, those halycon days of youth.

hottoq

I absolutely loved it. Thought it was one of the better movies of that year, and was disappointed I didn't go see it in theaters.

Mojo_Jojo

This was one of the least engaging films I've seen. It just rambled along without going anywhere, it was a failed experiment in narrative structure as far as I can understand. I'll never get those three hours back.

Edit:
Looking at Criticker it seems that this was worse than I remembered:

At least the set design and costumes didn't suck as aside from that this film fails on every single level. The simplistic plot is stretched by almost an hour, the dialogue is so bad that it might be funny, there's no sense of character. I could go on. In short though this is bad and I can understand why the UK marketing angle was just to sweep it under the carpet and pretend it never happened. Awful.

Bama

I also enjoyed the movie, but if I could change one thing I think I'd have the film end as soon as they see

the Spanish boats.

hottoq

Bama wrote: »

I also enjoyed the movie, but if I could change one thing I think I'd have the film end as soon as they see

the Spanish boats.

Isn't that exactly where it ends?

Bama

It goes on for a couple of minutes after that.

Cristoval

In my mind that's where I remember the movie ending as well. If there was anything after that it was obviously abysmal and not stretching the running time that much.

That being said, I enjoyed this movie immensely and didn't let the little details bother me. It felt a little long up to the point where they get dragged to the Mayan temples, but it sort of helps build that sense of dread.

Plus seeing those Spanish boats was a nice "oh shiiiiit!" twist worthy of M. Night Shaymalan. Even if the historian in you knew that it was coming sooner or later

desc

A lot of the movie seemed "just okay" to me, but seeing the huge Mayan city with everyone decked out in crazy jewelry and elaborate jade headdresses and such was impressive and really well done, I thought. Especially after taking (plenty of) time to set the movie in the jungle beforehand, with everyone in more modest attire. The switch to the bright lights of the big city was well done to hit you with the characters' disorientation along with the sheer amount of stuff happening on screen as they're going through the streets (people! slaves! exotic pets! bloodthirsty rituals!).

I barely remember the end. They

see the ships, the dudes stop chasing them and stare at the ships, and then it's a minute or two of the dude and family walking off into the wilderness, right?

Bama

Year, IIRC...

The main character gets up, leaving the hunters at the beach to go rescue his family. Then they stand on a cliff overlooking the beach and talk about finding a new life elsewhere.

Malkor

Bama wrote: »

Year, IIRC...

The main character gets up, leaving the hunters at the beach to go rescue his family. Then they stand on a cliff overlooking the beach and talk about finding a new life elsewhere.

I don't remember that. I just remember the boat.

Hardleft_335

I enjoyed this movie a lot. I initially didnt want to see it just because I didn't want to give money to Mel Gibson (Whats up sugar tits?). But I rented it eventually.

I like to think the city culture represented the perils of civilization and religion. The idea that "A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within" doesn't really apply here, because the native population would have died had no chance against the diseases brought by the Spanish. I agree that the quote is unnecessary.

darthmix

Yeah, I actually thought it was a fairly enjoyable little chase film. It aspires to be more, and fails, but as an action flick I found it entirely engaging. A few scenes - like when we first arrive at the Mayan city - are jaw-dropping.

SirUltimos

I remember seeing the movie and really liking it, but damned if I can actually remember anything at all about it. I'm not sure what that says about it.

JustinSane07

The thing I remember most from this movie is when the hunter is killed by the panther and just how fucking fake the panther looks. It looked like they won a Panther doll at a carnival and threw it on the guy and he thrashed around on the ground. Such an awful scene.

Oh yeah, and then the underwater child birth. Thanks Mel, I really needed that.

I mean it's not a terrible movie, but it's not a great one either. It falls somewhere in the middle, leaning towards good.

Variable

movie wasn't what I thought it was going to be but I thought it was excellent. I haven't watched it in a bit but I don't remember disliking anything in particular.

emnmnme

I thought using the ants to stitch up a gash was clever. I saw Bear Grylls use the same trick to bind two thick palm leaves together on his show - hold the leaves up to the ant, wait for him to clamp down on it with his jaws, pull his body off, repeat fifty more times.

Also, the birth scene. Ewww.

Cristoval

Aw man, I thought I totally forgot all about the birth scene but then BAM there it is, retained in stunning detail burned into my memory.

Then again we just seen the mass slaughter of a tribe not 20 minutes beforehand, so if a little water birth makes you nauseous I don't know what to say.

Although my best friend gets pretty grossed out by pregnancy and babies in general, so I won't hold it against you.

emnmnme

Before this movie, I thought babies came from planting diamonds in the cabbage patch and waiting for them to grow out of the ground.

DasUberEdward

Mel Gibson's Apocalypto.

tsmvengy

Birth: ewwwww

Gory Mass Murder: eh.

Elki

emnmnme wrote: »

Also, the birth scene. Ewww.

The birth scene was awesome. She brings the little kid out of the water and her son is like "... WTF just happened?!!"

The look on his face was priceless.

Jacobkosh

I really enjoyed the movie. It was vibrant and colorful, it had spectacle, a lot of genuinely surprising violence, and yet it felt humane and sympathetic in a way that I hadn't been expecting. And the actors were incredible; there was a ton of human emotion being conveyed through a minimum of dialogue, especially during the chase scenes.

Kalkino

This film almost redeemed Sugar Tits for me - but then he went and did something else that was silly. Good film though, I really enjoyed watching it on the big screen

Casual Eddy

pacing of a movie is pretty critical to me, so I didn't much care for this

I liked that they used actual mayan actors

Cristoval

jacobkosh wrote:

This film almost redeemed Sugar Tits for me - but then he went and did something else that was silly. Good film though, I really enjoyed watching it on the big screen

Really, it was this photo which redeemed him for me:



I'd rather he just admit that he's all out crazy instead of trying to front as a sane person.

Also, the other silly thing you are referring to took place before this movie was released. If Michael Jackson taught us anything, it's that you can easily enjoy the art without having to particularly like the artist.

darthmix

He kind of looks like Saddam Hussein in that photo.