Apocalypto
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Apocalypto
The first time apple.com announced the the trailer of the new Mel Gibson film, I wasn't excited at all. Not only because The Passion of the Christ disappointed me to great extends, but also because this time around he decided to film yet another film in an alien language to most parts of the world. I don't think I have watched a movie based on the Mayan civilization other than the animation The Road to El Dorado. So the theme and plot was a little alien to me, and seeing the teaser trailer didn't get me pumped as well, since it mostly involved weird people clad only in little underwear and with weird piercings and tattoos all over the place.
But of course, James Berardinelli can't be that wrong, the trusted film reviewer I look to most of the time. In his review, he revealed a 45 minutes chase sequence, and one of the most intense on in recent history too. That got me really excited, instead of the all the blood and gore mentioned, since I have never really been a fan of either (I found Hostel incredible stupid). Sure, I was a great fan of his Academy Award winning work in Braveheart, but that was twelve years ago. That same expectation for The Passion of the Christ was built up so high that it all fell apart in the end. Don't even blame it on over-hype this time, because on the second and third viewing, it was still a very weakly made movie in my opinion.
But I wanted to watch it anyway, and a curious thing to note this time is that out of the four movies that I wanted to watch, three of them are in foreign languages, though Babel had about a third of the movie in English. Children of Men is in English, so that is okay. Letters from Iwo Jima and Apocalypto are in Japanese and Mayan respectively, though both by American (Clint Eastwood) and Australian (Mel Gibson) directors. But anyway, so Ahmad and I went down to Cineleisure to catch the movie, and what a ride it was for me.
The story of Apocalypto starts in a private community of Mayan natives. We are first introduced to the Jaguar Paw, the hero of the story, and his relations to his community as well as his family. But Gibson does not dwell on such a pretty scene for very long, because in about fifteen minutes his style of brutal historic epic sets in. The invasion of another tribe occurs, and Gibson does not let down the level of tension and gore in this one. Every little detail of the horror of that invasion was vividly shown on screen, even a throat slitting scene was mercilessly shown, without editing, unlike the one from BraveHeart. However, Gibson never allows other aspects of the horror to go over the top. He does not show raping scenes, because he doesn't see the need of doing so. Instead, he merely shows the process leading up to it, leaving the audience to their own conclusions, which I thought was aptly edited together.
The film is divided into three parts. The first being the one mentioned above, the second being the journey of the captured tribe members to the main city until the point where Jaguar Paw miraculously escapes, and the third comprises of that infamous intense on-foot chase scene. While showing the blood and gore on-screen especially during the sacrifices, Gibson set loose all the ideas allowed it to flow onto screen. There are some of the most gruesome and graphical scenes I have ever witness. Take note though, that while Hostel had more graphic scenes, those in that movie were actually rather laughable to me, for some reason. Anyway, while truly bringing forth the magnitude at which the Mayans are willing to sacrifice for their Gods, Gibson never compromised on the emotional depth of the movie. For example, during the attack on the village, Jaguar lowered his son and his pregnant wife into a hole in the ground secretly, then promised to get back to them. Throughout the movie, we are shown brief moments of Jaguar praying for the sky not to rain (Because it will flood the hole and therefore, drowning them), and also because of the attachment with have to the characters, we feel the emotional hardship that he goes through. Aside from that, there is also the scene when the children who are left behind in the village follows their parents as they were brought along through the jungles and eventually to through a raging river. They couldn't cross, and that was when they had to say goodbye to their parents. The heart-breaking scene when the oldest of the children yelled to everybody else that she would protect the rest, but you wonder how long she is going to last, though the film never reveals that even till the end.
The third part of the film is the climax, and it reminded me of the old MacGuyver series when Jaguar managed to use little aspects of the forest to fight against his pursuing enemies. I shall not spoil this aspect for the readers here, but this part of the movie has some other really graphical scenes as well, but then again that's the trend throughout the movie. Again, Gibson did not compromise the action with the emotions involved, and that I thought was an improvement from his efforts in The Passion of the Christ, which was dominated by slow motion action and prolonged torturing scene. It was torturous for me only because the movie lasted for too long. The fight between Jaguar and one of the pursuers has the trademark Gibson written all over it. Slow motion plus brutality, but at the same time, brilliant in every way.
Anyway, by the end of the movie I was begging for more action and more...well, everything. Aside from the breath-taking cinematography I was especially surprised by the way Gibson was able to transport the audience into a world he created, and in which we are not entirely familiar with. Of course, one can argue that the film is not historically accurate, portraying the Mayans as savages. But then again, Gibson s not trying to make a Discovery Channel documentary here, but trying to show us the story of the survival of one man, and destruction of a civilization from within. No civilization has been destroyed in the history of men before the invasion of an external force, save for this one, and that is simply because of their own greed and desires that brought along their downfall.
I would recommend this movie, only for the people with strong stomach and a craving for a good action/emotional roller-coaster ride. Very well edited movie I must say, and definitely a two thumbs up from me. Can't wait for Gibson's next piece.
The first time apple.com announced the the trailer of the new Mel Gibson film, I wasn't excited at all. Not only because The Passion of the Christ disappointed me to great extends, but also because this time around he decided to film yet another film in an alien language to most parts of the world. I don't think I have watched a movie based on the Mayan civilization other than the animation The Road to El Dorado. So the theme and plot was a little alien to me, and seeing the teaser trailer didn't get me pumped as well, since it mostly involved weird people clad only in little underwear and with weird piercings and tattoos all over the place.
But of course, James Berardinelli can't be that wrong, the trusted film reviewer I look to most of the time. In his review, he revealed a 45 minutes chase sequence, and one of the most intense on in recent history too. That got me really excited, instead of the all the blood and gore mentioned, since I have never really been a fan of either (I found Hostel incredible stupid). Sure, I was a great fan of his Academy Award winning work in Braveheart, but that was twelve years ago. That same expectation for The Passion of the Christ was built up so high that it all fell apart in the end. Don't even blame it on over-hype this time, because on the second and third viewing, it was still a very weakly made movie in my opinion.
But I wanted to watch it anyway, and a curious thing to note this time is that out of the four movies that I wanted to watch, three of them are in foreign languages, though Babel had about a third of the movie in English. Children of Men is in English, so that is okay. Letters from Iwo Jima and Apocalypto are in Japanese and Mayan respectively, though both by American (Clint Eastwood) and Australian (Mel Gibson) directors. But anyway, so Ahmad and I went down to Cineleisure to catch the movie, and what a ride it was for me.
The story of Apocalypto starts in a private community of Mayan natives. We are first introduced to the Jaguar Paw, the hero of the story, and his relations to his community as well as his family. But Gibson does not dwell on such a pretty scene for very long, because in about fifteen minutes his style of brutal historic epic sets in. The invasion of another tribe occurs, and Gibson does not let down the level of tension and gore in this one. Every little detail of the horror of that invasion was vividly shown on screen, even a throat slitting scene was mercilessly shown, without editing, unlike the one from BraveHeart. However, Gibson never allows other aspects of the horror to go over the top. He does not show raping scenes, because he doesn't see the need of doing so. Instead, he merely shows the process leading up to it, leaving the audience to their own conclusions, which I thought was aptly edited together.
The film is divided into three parts. The first being the one mentioned above, the second being the journey of the captured tribe members to the main city until the point where Jaguar Paw miraculously escapes, and the third comprises of that infamous intense on-foot chase scene. While showing the blood and gore on-screen especially during the sacrifices, Gibson set loose all the ideas allowed it to flow onto screen. There are some of the most gruesome and graphical scenes I have ever witness. Take note though, that while Hostel had more graphic scenes, those in that movie were actually rather laughable to me, for some reason. Anyway, while truly bringing forth the magnitude at which the Mayans are willing to sacrifice for their Gods, Gibson never compromised on the emotional depth of the movie. For example, during the attack on the village, Jaguar lowered his son and his pregnant wife into a hole in the ground secretly, then promised to get back to them. Throughout the movie, we are shown brief moments of Jaguar praying for the sky not to rain (Because it will flood the hole and therefore, drowning them), and also because of the attachment with have to the characters, we feel the emotional hardship that he goes through. Aside from that, there is also the scene when the children who are left behind in the village follows their parents as they were brought along through the jungles and eventually to through a raging river. They couldn't cross, and that was when they had to say goodbye to their parents. The heart-breaking scene when the oldest of the children yelled to everybody else that she would protect the rest, but you wonder how long she is going to last, though the film never reveals that even till the end.
The third part of the film is the climax, and it reminded me of the old MacGuyver series when Jaguar managed to use little aspects of the forest to fight against his pursuing enemies. I shall not spoil this aspect for the readers here, but this part of the movie has some other really graphical scenes as well, but then again that's the trend throughout the movie. Again, Gibson did not compromise the action with the emotions involved, and that I thought was an improvement from his efforts in The Passion of the Christ, which was dominated by slow motion action and prolonged torturing scene. It was torturous for me only because the movie lasted for too long. The fight between Jaguar and one of the pursuers has the trademark Gibson written all over it. Slow motion plus brutality, but at the same time, brilliant in every way.
Anyway, by the end of the movie I was begging for more action and more...well, everything. Aside from the breath-taking cinematography I was especially surprised by the way Gibson was able to transport the audience into a world he created, and in which we are not entirely familiar with. Of course, one can argue that the film is not historically accurate, portraying the Mayans as savages. But then again, Gibson s not trying to make a Discovery Channel documentary here, but trying to show us the story of the survival of one man, and destruction of a civilization from within. No civilization has been destroyed in the history of men before the invasion of an external force, save for this one, and that is simply because of their own greed and desires that brought along their downfall.
I would recommend this movie, only for the people with strong stomach and a craving for a good action/emotional roller-coaster ride. Very well edited movie I must say, and definitely a two thumbs up from me. Can't wait for Gibson's next piece.
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