Think The Running Man crossed with a dose of Mayan History, and thats Apocalypto. It is simply a well developed action film that happens to features elaborate sets and costumes. It makes it for a unique add to the canon of historical epics.The plot is very basic. Jaguar Paw(Rudy Youngblood) is a hunter in a peaceful rural village. He has a young son named Turtles Run and his beautiful wife has another baby in the oven. Life is idyllic for Jaguar Paw until a group of soldiers from the city choose his village for sacrifice. What follows is a violent tale of survival that also functions as a spectacle of sorts.
The film has its main action captured in that trademark Mel Gibson style. Slow motion is as always his weapon of choice, and in this film is used extremely well. When we watch Jaguar Paw sprinting away from a gigantic jaguar(the animal) the slow motion enhances the thrills considerably. I wont go into to much detail, but slow motion comes into play in one of the most memorable showdown scenes I've seen in a long while.
The best part of this film is simply the elongated scene in the Mayan City. The sheer amount of visual information thrown at you is amazing. When I left the theater I talked it with my moviemates and there were things that they saw that I missed and vice versa. The scene has so many elaborate costumes and constructions it is nearly impossible not to be struck with the grandeur of it all.
While I liked this film immensely, I feel that it is not quite a masterpiece. It in parts has some schlocky cg effects and for the simple nature of the story it seems to just run a little to long. All and all it is a unique film experience that for action fans shouldn't be missed.
4/5 "A violent and emotional action yarn."
1 comment:
Really.
Well, I guess I wasn't expecting a chase movie. I thought for what it was there should have been way more chase, and way less "other". To me the movie doesn't even start until he starts running. It feels disjointed, as if the first half of the movie is all first act.
Also I found some of the gore to be cheezy. The heads bouncing down the pyramid got more than a few chuckles at the Arclight, and the squirting shot was over the top, it ripped me out of the narrative, reminding me of all the 70s chop socky movies i watched for the same reason. It's like a Sonny Chiba movie set in the 16th century.
Not bad, but reaching for more than it is I suppose.
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