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USA 2006
Director: Mel Gibson
Cast: Rudy Youngblood, Raoul Trujillo, Dalia Hernández, Jonathan Brewer, Iazua Larios, Morris Birdyellowhead, Espiridion Acosta Cache
Rating: R
Language: Maya
Release Date: 8 December 2006
Running Time: 2 hours 19 minutes
The Movie Review
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| APOCALYPTO |
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After Braveheart (1995), The Patriot (2000), and We Were Soldiers (2002), Mel Gibson did it again. Right from the start this movie will already capture audience's attention. Apocalypto spends a good amount of time at the first few minutes to introduce us that the Mayan people of the humble village portrayed in it are civilized people who love their family and their home. Just so you know, the violence depicted in this movie is very blatant and sometimes disturbing, in short, it's the real deal, so this movie might not be suitable for the faint-hearted ones.
-- Start of Spoiler Possibility Alert --
The serenity of a modest Mayan village where Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) and his family live will soon be devastatingly disturbed by a band of Mayan soldiers who ravages one village after another to capture its dwellers. The soldiers led by Zero Wolf (Raoul Trujillo) finally arrive at Jaguar's village and slaughter the villagers. Jaguar manages to hide his wife Seven and his son Turtles Run inside a Chultun (underground cavities), but eventually he's also captured and forced to hike through the forest to the place where all captives being held, either to be enslaved or sacrificed to the Mayan sun god Kukulkan. On their way they pass a small girl who is possessed and tells a prophecy of the end of the evil ones and a hero will rise among the captives.
-- End of Spoiler Possibility Alert --
Apocalypto is an epic movie but the horror its contents can not be withstand by the so-so horror movies. In a meaning that in most horror flicks, we do know what kind of violence will be inflicted upon some college students who are just looking for sex and debauchery, they're violent indeed but Apocalypto has got this very serious, dark and sadistic tone all over. In a modern horror film, we are familiar with what the villain might do and what kind of pain they will inflict upon their victims, which subsequently would lower the shock level for audience and lessen the depression of watching it, but in Apocalypto we're watching the people from the past who have their own methods of torture, and this might remind some fellow moviegoes who are already familiar with the 70s cannibal flicks.
Apocalypto on the negative side could be said as the epic version of B-movie which is filled with blood and gore, but on the contrary, Apocalypto doesn't try to hide what really happens. This movie is artistic, creepily artistic in presenting a civilization with distinctive culture, all the dancing, the dresses, the chanting, the architecture, the people... They all deliver fear and fascination in many facets in the same time!
Unlike other epic movies where they dramatize the glory of its hero, Apocalypto presents the glory in a simple manner but highly effective. Our hero doesn't have superpower, actually he represents common people who sometimes have to face the biggest fear and overcome it with what little they have. The name of the game is "Determination". And that word seals the deal in Apocalypto. Apocalypto is absolutely one of the best movies of 2006, and one of my favorite epic movies ever!
© iwan pranowo of Movielogy.com
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