Apocalypto

[Maltin]

I've just watched Dowfall (we are talking about Der Untergang here, yes?) and found it a bloody good film. Entirely different on every level to Apocalypto though.

Yes they were. It is excellent and I don't see how anyone could suggest that it is the opposite of Apocalypto.

One's supposed to be an account of Adolf Hitler's last days, the other is a purely fictional chase movie that happens to be set in the Mayan civilization.

 

[Orang Utan]

I saw it last night after being persuaded to watch it by a friend who then changed her mind at the last minute and decided to watch Pan's Labrynth instead
It was pretty enjoyable but is essentially an empty enterprise - lots of running and bleeding and not much in between - they shouldn't really have bothered with subtitles though - they were kind of unnecessary, except at one point a character does a Ratso impression, 'I am walking here!' after a tree nearly falls on him - that made me laugh out loud.
I don't think it was anything like Reno suggests - simplistic certainly but I don't think it peddles any specific gender beyone man's ability to destroy what is precious to him.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

Yes they were. It is excellent and I don't see how anyone could suggest that it is the opposite of Apocalypto.

One's supposed to be an account of Adolf Hitler's last days, the other is a purely fictional chase movie that happens to be set in the Mayan civilization.

Perhaps you should re-read the thread then - of course theres no connection between the Mayans and Hitler FFS, we were discussing how history is represented in film

 

[London_Calling]

Perhaps I wasn't quite in the mood . . . I would think Gibson might be okay with a straightforward linear storytelling exercise, but I couldn't help but feel he had grander ambitions with this one. Didn't work if he did, for me anyway.

He's a sort of Oliver Stone but with less craft . . . . .

Apocalypto wasn't for me, but I can understand that others enjoyed it.

 

[JohnC]

He aint no David Lynch either.

 

[chilango]

Oddly it ain`t out here in Mexico yet...

Maya groups here are angered by the film (for the reasons outlined above9, as they`re ones being commodifed and falsified I guess I`ll trust their judgement on it.

Incidentally, I was in rural Veracruz a coupla weeks back and most places I went were used as locations in the film - Veracruz is Olmec territory not Maya. Hmmm.

The Maya continue to be the victims of colonial aggression - a dozen or so were murdered by right wing paramilitaries in Mexico a few weeks back, and its only a decade or so since the genocide in Guatemala stopped.

These are dangerous issues Gibson is poking his toe into.

 

[kerb]

i just watched the film an hour ago and i didnt see any christian / anti jewish propaganda, but thats just me

what i read into it is, that the film portrays human behaviour, the nastiness of it and the fear of those who are different and get conquered by the more powerful, including the other tribe and europeans at the end. ok you could say that the christian missionary at the end of the film depicts gibsons religious views but i think, that is what happened when we were 'civilising the natives'

sad thing is, 400 years later human behaviour has hardly changed

 

[JohnC]

sad thing is, 400 years later human behaviour has hardly changed

So true.

 

[la ressistance]

hmm,just watched it.
pretty stunning.spose.


I HATE MEL GIBSON SOOO FUCKING MUCH!!! !!!

 

[la ressistance]

on second thoughts.what a bag of shite.

 

[thefishdead]

Just seen this. Utter cliched shite. One of the worst films I have seen in a long while. As shallow as a fucking puddle. Havent been so bored in a cinema since Ice age 2.

 

[han]

Just seen this. Utter cliched shite. One of the worst films I have seen in a long while. As shallow as a fucking puddle. Havent been so bored in a cinema since Ice age 2.

Totally agree - I saw it last night. Utter tripe.
Cliche-ridden from beginning to end. And full of utterly gratuitous violence.

But then what do you expect from Mel Gibson? I didn't realise he was the director until I was in the cinema, and then thought - 'oh shit'.

The main character, Jaguar Paw or whatever his name was was quite dishy though

 

[han]

We actually walked out after 20 mins to see if we could sneak into another film and then decided to give it another chance and went back in again!

I haven't done that for a long time.

People were laughing quite a lot cos it was so far fetched. The violence was so extreme it was actually funny. IYKWIM.

All the heads rolling down the stairs etc. etc.

I haven't heard so many squelchy noises since....Shaun of the Dead!

 

[D'wards]

(spoiler)
Just saw this today and was very impressed with it - granted it had its cliches (you knew the hero would kill the worst of the baddies face to face, rather than the distance other killings) and was basically a standard hollywood plot, but i thought it was well filmed and defo held my attention.

I don't think its been mentioned on this thread yet, but i think it did have a message about colonisation in that the "hero" said the same line ("we'll go into the jungle to start a new begining") at the end when he saw the spanish as the other friendly tribesman said at the start before his whole village was murdered and destroyed.

Enjoyable fluff though - 7/10