Product Description

All Movie Guide - As the foundation of the Mayan civilization begins to crumble one man's previously idyllic existence is forever changed when he is chosen as a sacrifice needed to appease the gods in director Mel Gibson's mythic end-times adventure. The Mayan kingdom is at the absolute height of opulence and power but leaders are convinced that unless more temples are constructed and more human sacrifices made the crops and ultimately the people will suffer. Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) is a peaceful hunter from a remote forest tribe whose life is about to be changed forever. When Jaguar Paw's village is raided and he is prepared as a sacrifice that the Mayan deities have demanded the brave young hunter is forced to navigate a horrific new world of fear and oppression. Fearlessly determined to escape his captors and save his family from a harrowing demise Jaguar Paw prepares to risk it all in one final desperate attempt to preserve his dying way of life. However few who have seen the sacrificial alter of the Mayans have managed to live to see another day. Now in order to rescue his pregnant wife and young son Jaguar Paw will have to elude the most powerful warriors of the Mayan kingdom while using his vast knowledge of the forest to turn the tables on those who would rather see him dead than set free. Inspired by such ancient Mayan texts as the Popul Vuh Apocalypto marks a comprehensive collaboration between director Gibson Cambridge-educated screenwriter Farhad Safinia and world-renowned archeologist and Mayan culture expert Dr. Richard D. Hansen -- whose services as a special consultant on the film lent the production an unprecedented degree of historical accuracy. - Jason BuchananFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE UPC: 786936705089 Manufacturer No: 5064603

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #653 in DVD
• Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
• Released on: 2007-05-22
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 138 minutes

Amazon.com
Forget any off-screen impressions you may have of Mel Gibson, and experience Apocalypto as the mad, bloody runaway train that it is. The story is set in the pre-Columbian Maya population: one village is brutally overrun, its residents either slaughtered or abducted, by a ruling tribe that needs slaves and human sacrifices. We focus on the capable warrior Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood), although Gibson skillfully sketches a whole population of characters--many of whom don't survive the early reels. Most of the film is set in the dense jungle, but the middle section, in a grand Mayan city, is a dazzling triumph of design, costuming, and sheer decadent terror. The movie itself is a triumph of brutality, as Gibson lets loose his well-established fascination with bodily mortification in a litany of assaults including impalement, evisceration, snakebite, and bee stings. It's a dark, disgusted vision, but Gibson doesn't forget to apply some very canny moviemaking instincts to the violence--including the creation of a tremendous pair of villains (strikingly played by Raoul Trujillo and Rodolfo Palacias). The film is in a Maya dialect, subtitled in English, and shot on digital video (which occasionally betrays itself in some blurry quick pans). Amidst all the mayhem, nothing in the film is more devastating than a final wordless exchange of looks between captured villager Blunted (Jonathan Brewer) and his wife's mother (Maria Isabel Diaz), a superb change in tone from their early relationship. Yes, this is an obsessive, crazed movie, but Gibson knows what he's doing. --Robert Horton

Beyond Apocalypto

More films directed by Mel Gibson

Apocalypto soundtrack by James Horner

Customer Reviews

Not Nearly As Good As Anticipated
Well worth seeing due to the scenes in the Mayan city.

This is where the movie fell short. Too much time spent running through
the jungle which should have been spent showing the spectacular
civilization/culture in the Mayan city.

Also kind of hard to indentify with the characters in the movie. As you
would with Cosner in "Dances with Wolves" or Mel Gibson in "Braveheart."

The ending is kind of quirky. A 15 second shot of very huge changes to come.
Inserting this 15 second glimpse into the ending made the movie seem
even more lacking than it was.

Dissapointing to see a movie with so much potential come up so short.

Mel's Mayan culture
I wasn't prepared to like this film since I was not a big fan of Mel's "Passion of the Christ" due to the gruesome violence of the film more than the controversy surrounding it. And of course we've all heard of his meltdown in Malibu but don't let that deter you from enjoying this excellent film. The visuals and the sound are particularly impressive in Blu-ray and it fully captures what I experienced in the theatre when I first saw it. If you want an example of Hi-Def at its best do put this on or "Blade Runner" to test your set-up. Am looking forward to Mel's next directorial effort!!

Let down by faulty astronomy, in my opinion
When Jaguar Paw (the lead character) was about to be sacrificed, he was saved by a total solar eclipse. The Mayan high priest obviously knew something about eclipses, because he correctly predicted the sun god would re-emerge. Anyone who has read National Geographic knows the Mayans were among the best astronomers, and their calendars were so precise they do not repeat for thousands of years (our Gregorian calendar repeats in six, if I'm not mistaken).

Too bad the film's writers didn't have as much expertise. With the sacrifice aborted, Jaguar Paw and Blunted were condemned to be dispatched out of sight of the public. Jaguar Paw escapes into the forest, and during the night, there it was, a screamingly bright, large full moon. The only problem; full moons and solar eclipses don't go together. Solar eclipses occur when the moon is between the earth and the sun, therefore, the chances of a full moon the night after a solar eclipse are, zero.

I also have a problem with the way the pursuing Indians pluck their arrows out of trees on the run, after they've missed Jaguar Paw. I don't know if stone arrows can withstand that abuse. You can probably shoot a flint arrow into a tree, but to yank it sideways while on a dead run would probably shatter the arrowhead.

Otherwise, the film is OK. It shows the Mayans in decline, and the barbarity they display is in proportion with that decline, which is pretty much what happened with other great civilizations (most famously, Rome).