Apocalypto

[samsong]

so this was interesting, given how it's being marketed.  Apocalypto is a mayan Braveheart, complete with gibson's overconfidence and narrow focus.  it's completely independent of the period in which he sets it in, so that the mayan culture is nothing more than a painted backdrop for him to display his nonexistent narrative bravura in front of.  this is the reconiliation of mel gibson, entertainer to the lowest common denominator and mel gibson, the self proclaimed artiste.  the result is exactly what you would expect, in that it fucking blows.  there are the makings of what could be a good action-adventure film but it's so intensely gratuitous and flippant in its violence, as well as irrelevant to what it poses to be that whatever can be said about the few good elements are invalidated.

i'm glad though that wes studi and august schellenberg's legacy as the token actors for films about people indigenous to the americas will be carried on by raoul trujillo.

[Chest Rockwell]

First, the Jews; Now Gibson Angers the Maya

Some descendants of the Maya tribes depicted in Mel Gibson's Apocalypto have denounced the movie as racist and not representative of their ancient culture. In an interview with Reuters, Ignacio Ochoa, director of the Nahual Foundation, said, "Gibson replays, in glorious big budget Technicolor, an offensive and racist notion that Maya people were brutal to one another long before the arrival of Europeans and thus they deserved, in fact, needed, rescue." Lucio Yaxon, described by Reuters as a 23-year-old Mayan human rights activist, added, "Basically, the director is saying the Mayans are savages." Today's (Thursday) Los Angeles Times noted that archaeologist Richard Hansen was on hand throughout the shooting of the film, lending his advice to the production team. Production designer Tom Sanders told the newspaper, "It was really fun to say [to Hansen], 'Is there any proof they didn't do this?' When he said, 'There is no proof they didn't do that, ' that gives you some license to play."

[The Perineum Falcon]

This was boring and ridiculous.

No redeeming qualities, either.

[Gamblour.]

I agree, but at least the last 40 minutes of action was kinda interesting.

[edison]

This was boring and ridiculous.

Yeah, till they reached the sacrifice on the temple, then I started to wake up.

I agree, but at least the last 40 minutes of action was kinda interesting.

True that. I would have been asleep had there not been such an exciting chase.

[Jon]

I really really liked this movie. What I find interesting now is that if you go back and watch the teaser trailer, none of that footage is used. It seems it was all just test footage, maybe seeing how all the make-up etc. would look on camera; they even had a different lead actor. For being test footage, it's pretty good looking stuff.

[The Perineum Falcon]

Which explains why the trailer is better than the movie: it's completely not the same.

[last days of gerry the elephant]

I didn't care too much for the story, and although it bothered me that there was no way of knowing if anything closely tied to this story was true or not. But at the end, the action was entertaining enough. I could tell much of the audience were displeased by it and some even walked out of the theater so early into the movie though. I would agree with what Mel was saying about it being a chase movie, and that's all I took it as. Not bad.

[Gold Trumpet]

I'm rooting for Mel Gibson as a filmmaker, but I'm still waiting for him to do good work. My experience of watching Apocalypto was enjoyable. The storyline hooked me and when I realized I had little idea about where the film was going by the time the prisoners were brought to that city, I felt good the film could have been worthwhile. Even if it didn't pan out, I'm glad I saw this.

There just are so many problems with the film. First, Gibson is still too much of a filmmaker based on impulse. The Passion of the Christ had intense filmmaking, but the camera never truly had a motivation or greater track. The only consistency it had is that it wanted to be as brutally honest with the most horrific images as possible. Braveheart had brutal imagery, but was classical filmmaking comparitvely.

Apocalypto is in betweem both of those films. Gibson can have utilize subtletly in this film, but I think he only did so because the storyline forced it. When Gibson had to handle both action and story at the same time, he introduced camera tricks that both felt forced and without any rythm. I wished Gibson would have had a better filmmaking plan. At the beginning, it felt like he was utilizing different cameras only because it was easier to capture still beauty with one camera (which looked like film) and action with another (which looked like video). The differences were appalling and reflective of Gibson going for reality at any cost. Aguirre, the Wrath of God, made for a purpose of total reality atleast understood the filmic capabilities of shooting in a foreign wild. It honed in a story that could make on such an attempt. Apocalypto goes for the impossible and while filmmaking is much greater these days than in the 1970s, Apocalypto cannot achieve visual perfection for even simple scenes.

Another major problem is that Gibson had a ridiculous budget. There was no end to the carnage in the city where the prisoners are suppose to meet their death. For any film the greatness of this scene would be the finale. Even Apocalypse Now settled for this. But, the story not only goes end after this scene, but turns itself into something completely different. The film develops a plot greater than the basic one from the beginning and a greater theme starts to take place in the film. I welcomed this but began to realize that the scene of the great city of carnage was really unnecessary. The film should have written around that scene and focused on the themes it began to acquire. Its just Gibson was able to get away with this and like every filmmaker, he rejoiced at beging able to do so. I still believe every filmmaker is turned on the by the idea of filming an epic to outdue every other epic. Its our height of a visual opus. Gibson makes his contribution with Apocalypto.

Then the matter of the story. When the film does pick up, the story develops themes that relate to beliefs of the people and their fears. The warriors sent out to chase the man feel they are under a curse due to bad omens they pick up through out the film. Their end, as a cursed child warns, awaits them. The idea reminds me of Macbeth and the action element reminds me of Kurosawa's adaptation. The difference is that Kurosawa delves into the myths of his story while Gibson utilizes it as a tool only surrounding the visuals and simple human story. Gibson barely develops any greater ideas, but bases the interest on the film in the simple desire for the kidnapped man to rescue his family. While the last thing Gibson should due is rip off Kurosawa, Gibson could understand the idea of adaptation as Kurosawa did.

When Kurosawa adapted King Lear into Ran, he constructed a story that wasn't trying to replicate Shakespeare, but find a way to equate Shakespeare to Japanese standard. He utilized the filmmaking to delve into the nature of God as Shintoism, the Japanese national religion, defined it. Shintoism believes in the presence of God everywhere and Kurosawa graced the film with a scope to encompass the clouds and sky around the characters. This was the only way to symbolize God without spelling it out. The purpose for Gibson would have been to delve into themes and ideas equivalent to the people in Apocalypto. Gibson seems well studied in history to get the decor of the world correct, but he needed to search out the ideas and humane element anymore.

In many ways, I like Mel Gibson as a filmmaker. The Passion of the Christ has a pulse unlike any other, but the sad fact is that I think he is a filmmaker years beyond his use. Gibson is a filmmaker of brutal imagery in search of the greater honesty. In every way I do believe this is a simpflication to storytelling, but try to imagine him making films in the 1960s. Robert Bresson was making the first attempt to challenge the visual force of The Passion of Joan of Arc with his version, The Trial of Joan of Arc. Other filmmakers were making visual attempts to distance themselves from the white washing of truth that Hollywood had done for years from the 1930s through the 50s. Gibson is acting in the same accord. He routinely criticized the legitimacy of The Last Temptation of Christ when making his version. It is just that he only challenged the legitimacy of Scorsese with an appropriate language and the appropriate brutality. Scorsese still had greater depth in ideas.

But, to imagine this purpose in the 1960s is to imagine films that had greater relevancy and a better chance of surviving through the years. Gibson is making films in an age of ultra violence and doing little by combating that with a violence that is "truthful". When Gibson understands the next step he can take in filmmaking is to delve into the story, he'll make better films. Considering Apocalypto was a financial failure, his future should be bright in more reasonable storytelling.

[Xx]

...

[MacGuffin]

Gibson, woman trade words at screening

Mel Gibson exchanged angry words with a university professor who challenged the accuracy of his film "Apocalypto" at an on-campus screening. Gibson was answering questions from the crowd at California State University, Northridge, Thursday night when Alicia Estrada, an assistant professor of Central American studies, accused the actor-director of misrepresenting the Mayan culture in the movie. Gibson directed an expletive at the woman, who was removed from the crowd.

"In no way was my question aggressive in the way that he responded to it," Estrada said. "These are questions that my peers, my colleagues, ask me every time I make a presentation. These are questions I pose to my students in the classroom."

Gibson's publicist, Alan Nierob, characterized the professor as "a heckler."

"The woman ... was rude and disruptive inasmuch as the event organizers had to escort her out," Nierob said.

Lauren Robeson, editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper, the Daily Sundial, said Gibson denounced Estrada as a troublemaker.

"It was a brief disruption to an otherwise interesting, stimulating event from our students' perspectives," said university spokesman John Chandler. "The students were very appreciative of Mr. Gibson being there. He spent a lot of time answering questioernational headlines. The R-rated epic about the decline of Mayan civilization shows Mayan rulers slitting throats and beheading and ripping the beating hearts from the chests of their enemies.

Human sacrifice among the Mayans has been well-documented in recent years and is accepted as fact by most anthropologists, knocking down a previous theory that the culture did not take part in such bloody rituals.

However, there are some scholars and Indian activists who still believe the human sacrifice accounts are false or overblown, and an attempt by racist scientists to paint the culture as violent.

"This isn't the Mayan culture," Juan Tiney, leader of the National Indian and Farmer Committee, Guatemala's biggest Mayan organization, told the AP. "Although it might be part of it, there was also culture, economics, astronomical wealth and language. ... It discredits a people to present them in this manner."

Gibson "did his homework and consulted with world authorities on this matter," Nierob said.

"Apocalypto" has grossed more than $100 million worldwide, and it earned three Academy Award nominations.

[MacGuffin]

Yeah, I liked it. I bought into the journey and the characters as an action film, and was rooting for the villians to get their comeuppance, and was bloody well rewarded.


But don't take my word for it; listen to my man, Kanye West:


Kanye West Says MTV Movie Awards Snubbed Mel Gibson's 'Apocalypto'
'I'm a movie buff,' says opinionated rapper, who just dropped single, mixtape.

Kanye West almost always has something to say about awards ceremonies — specifically, trophies he believes he deserves. Now, with the MTV Movie Awards coming up Sunday, West is speaking out in a very unlikely person's defense, claiming that the best film of the year was snubbed.

"My favorite movie this year was 'Apocalypto,' and I love Mel Gibson," West said. "Sometimes I feel a little like Mel Gibson. [People say to him,] 'OK, Mel Gibson, we know [your movie is] the best, but if you shut up, maybe we can give you an award.' I think that's how people feel about me sometimes: 'OK, [your album] was the best.'

" 'Apocalypto' was the best movie," West continued. "It's probably some complete bullsh-- that got nominated over it. Around the time of the awards, if you want to ask me what's the bullsh-- that got nominated, I will tell you. It's my opinion; it doesn't mean it's good or bad. I'm a movie buff."



Word, Mr. West. Word to your mother. I'm a movie buff too. 

[The Sheriff]

this movie sucked

Production designer Tom Sanders told the newspaper, "It was really fun to say [to Hansen], 'Is there any proof they didn't do this?' When he said, 'There is no proof they didn't do that, ' that gives you some license to play."

and if theres no proof that mr. sanders never got it up the ass weekly by a hooker named bob i guess i can play with that in my movie about him

[mogwai]

kanye's always like that when he's drunk. take my word for it. word.

[pete]

stop saying word