Mel Gibson's Apocalypto
By Geoff Hoppe
December 12, 2006 - 20:09
Starring: Rudy Youngblood, Dalia Hernandez, Jonathan Brewer, Morris Birdyellowhead
Directed by: Mel Gibson
Produced by: Bruce Davey, Mel Gibson
Running Time: 139 minutes
Release Date: December 8, 2006
Me: Hey, I just saw an amazing movie where a guy uses a series of semi-comical traps to expel invaders from his home and make it safe for his family—
Friend: Home Alone?
Me: …No—but really, this movie was great, it was a Mel Gibson flick all about an embattled underdog who fights an evil empire after they kill his loved ones and destroy his home—
Friend: The Patriot?
Me: No.
Friend: Braveheart?
Me: …well, no, but I am beginning to see a pattern Mr. Gibson should probably discuss with a licensed psychiatric professional.
Apocalypto, according to Gibson’s press releases, is about what makes civilizations rise and fall. It seems a lot more about how civilizations are built and function. The basic message seems to be that all civilization, in its higher forms, requires bloodshed and slavery to function and exist. Fair enough. Even the most civil societies have something of a dark underbelly. In Apocalypto, Mel Gibson shows us an advanced society dependant on sacrifice. He indirectly addresses the issue of decadence, but never delivers the cataclysmic money-shot the movie’s hype and publicity promise. Most of the movie is about Mayan civilization’s victims , not about Mayan civilization itself. The amount of time the audience spends in the Mayan city is short compared to the rest of the film. The supposed message of the movie thus comes off as an afterthought.
Moments like this are out of place in a movie that wants to be serious and historical. They belong, perhaps, in a slasher film, or one a cult movie where violence outweighs plot, but not in a movie that opens with a quote from genius historian Will Durant.
Ok, here’s my big problem: at the end of the movie, the hero and his pursuers encounter three shiploads of Spanish conquistadores. Yet, the movie is about Mayan civilization. Last time I checked, Mayan civilization was gone by the time Cortes arrived in the 1500s. Also, Cortes didn’t conquer the Mayans, he conquered the Aztecs. Even the Apocalypto website says Mayan civilization disappeared around the 900s. Why, then, does Mel Gibson show a group of clearly sixteenth-century Spaniards appearing on the shores of tenth-century Guatemala? I’m no scholar of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, but something doesn’t add up here (seriously, something doesn’t—if you’re A) reading this and B) a student of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, drop me a line. I’d honestly like to know if I’ve missed something).
Apocalypto does have its strengths. But, it’s beneath a man who’s worked in Hollywood for twenty-plus years. This is a frenzied, fast-paced flick with loadsof potential it doesn’t live up to. There’s ambition, but it’s more than the men behind the camera can manage. It’s a “first movie” by a seasoned actor/director. And that, dear reader, is worse than a bad case of Montezuma’s revenge.
Worth the money? Plotwise, no. But, if you enjoy grand Hollywood spectacles enough to spend ten dollars, you’ll get your money’s worth.
Geoff Hoppe can be reached at lake_isle@hotmail.com.
Related Articles:
Apocalypto
Mel Gibson's Apocalypto