Rant: Apocalypto

[maddash]

Finally got around to seeing it last night... and I'm pretty sure there was a thread on this movie already.

Ok, so I really didn't hate the movie, but I was expecting this big epic with deeper a spiritual meaning and some social commentary... what I got was an action/thriller.

How many times did Mel employ the "slow motion running" technique? A dozen? If not more? Yes, you have a jaguar chasing you... let's show it in slow motion. Yes, you have a warrior chasing you... let's show it in slow motion. What was with the tired "race against the clock" plot device? Are we, the audience, going to be so bored with the movie that we need a A) woman about to give birth B) trapped in a pit C) that's filling up with water... I mean, [expletive] seriously? The pit is filling up with water. It's like Mel read one of those Batman comics where Robin needs to be rescued from some crazy situation.

Oh, and the waterfall? Why do these survival/chase movies always throw in a waterfall?

And what the [expletive] in the world was up with the deus ex machina at the end? Ummm, yeah, the dude needs to evade the last two bad guys so lets just kind of drop in Christopher freaking Columbus.

I actually like survival movies, the Naked Prey is one of my very favorite movies of all time. But the Naked Prey made you care about the hunters as well as the prey, and it made commentaries about both the native African people and the Europeans. Apocalypto has a culture in decline as the backdrop, but outside of it being a set piece where you can draw your own conclusions, it really is a movie with nothing to say.

[JL21]

I haven't seen it but everything that you just wrote about it confirms why I didn't see it.

[Michael]

Agreed. The only part that was interesting was ritual scene. The pregnant wife in the pit was a particularly ridiculous plot device.

[thrill]

I like it, but then again I like anything about pre-columbian american society.

[omaha_red]

i didn't hate it..

[AdmiralKird]

I found it enjoyable.

[redbirdjazzz]

I thought it was really well done, but somewhat lacking in plot.

[cardsfansince82]

I didn't completely hate it, but I would never feel compelled to ever watch it again.

[ghostrunner]

It's a simple story, but I liked it. A lot of people read the ending as some sort of endorsement of Christianity. But I thought it was a callback to the "white people are coming" speech earlier in the movie, so it's a bittersweet ending. I didn't think it was odd though. He sort of ripped off "Lord of the Flies."

I'm a big fan of Gibson the moviemaker, if not the person. He doesn't stray too far from convention, has a bit of a torture fetish, but everything he makes I get the feeling he's all in. It's cool that he's gone to the trouble of using native languages when possible.

[Maclowery]

The first major trailer released online for it, you could pause at just the right frame and see a goofy shot of a bearded Mel posing with two make-uped tribal types. It was entertaining.