Apocalypto

Apocalypto

I must have been under my rock again.

Before happening upon this film on the Netflix website, I had totally forgotten that Mel Gibson had even created this movie. I was actually not looking for any particular flick. My curiosity over the "Watch Instantly" feature on Netflix had led me to this random film choice. I just wanted to see if the feature worked. It did, and so did this film.

Wow, what a ride.

I love the fact that there are no big name stars in the movie. And yet Gibson put so much effort into the making of this film. Mel has made a lot of money and having come off "The Passion of the Christ" his movie-making skills seem to have been in full-swing turbo mode. He is definitely on his game. He made this film feel so.......big. (Now where else other than Sarch's Blog do you get incredible descriptives like this in a movie review?).

The movie chronicles the story of a small village of the Mayans just before those pesky Conquistadors found them in the 1500's. It is savage, and beautiful. The cinematography within the jungle settings is spectacular.

If you're offended or grossed out by violence you might want to take a pass on this film. Sometimes it is flat out over the top. Being a guy....and liking "guy flick stuff" I found myself howling / laughing / squirming on a regular basis. I would look to my left or right to make some sort of comment about the guy getting his noggin' busted in and then would realize I was watching the movie alone. Side note - this is a great movie to watch with a friend if you're both into the action movie scene. So many opportunities for inappropriate comments :)

I found the acting to be first rate. When I first realized there were subtitles I thought, "Oh boy, this is gonna be work." But boy was I wrong. Before long I didn't even realize I was reading them.... the sign of an enthralling story.

Jaguar Paw - He get plenty of opportunity to run!

If there is a "hero" it would be Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood). This guy did a fantastic job, even during the scenes that went way beyond the realm of possibility. There is a scene between he and his father (Flint Sky (Morris Bird) the leader of the small village) that I will not ruin for those of you who will see the movie, but I'll admit to getting the heart strings pulled in a big way as we watch them stare at one another through a particularly dramatic scene. That one scene manages to pull you in and get you truly engaged in the story.

Flint Sky - Leader of the tribe and Jaguar Paw's father.

This is a beautiful film. Hauntingly so.

I can't seem to get past this movie. Maybe the stars were just aligned right, or perhaps I had no expectations whatsoever considering I wasn't really even expecting to watch a movie when I viewed this. But this film keeps coming back to my mind. I guess that's a check in the Directors "Win" column, huh?

Hope you all have a wonderful week.