Eye Candy #73 - "Apocalypto"

Apocalypto: A glorified "chase" picture, this Mel Gibson-helmed revisionist film doesn't tackle any weighty themes, expound upon any great truths, or have the emotional weight of some of Gibson's earlier directorial efforts ("Passion" and "Braveheart" specifically). The story of Jaguar Paw, a young man captured by a group of slavers who is then taken to a Mayan city, where he escapes and finds his way back to his pregnant wife and young son. Or rather he "runs" his way back. Because once he starts running, you might as well be watching "Rambo First Blood", it's got the same vibe as Jaguar Paw devises traps and blunders by dumb luck into relatively advantageous situations (as in "they don't kill him immediately, but have the potential to kill someone else"). Gory and violent (granted, there are only so many ways to pull off cutting the heart of a person out of their chest), the film does what it does with a certain amount of style, but it doesn't really get any deeper than that. No great insights into Mayan culture. You could take Jaguar Paw and put him anywhere at any time and you could see how his story isn’t unique to his time, environment, personality, etc. It could very well be “Run Jaguar Paw Run”, just take out the Lola. So it’s certainly a lesser effort in terms of complete film for Gibson (it’s a feat of logistics, planning, and so forth, it’s very well done). It’s a well-made but hollow film. Woodchuck sez, “Paints a pretty, but simplistic picture.”