It’s safe to say that only Mel Gibson could have made Apocalypto. No other director would have been able to gather enough funding to produce a film with mostly non-actors in a Mayan dialect. Yet for Gibson, this isn’t a problem. He has enough money to make whatever he desires after the commercial success of The Passion of The Christ, and he’s probably the most bankable director out there. Because Gibson directed it, people are interested. If another director made Apocalypto, it wouldn’t even get a major theatrical release.
The resulting film ends up breaking new cinematic ground, mostly due to the risks Gibson took. Like with Paul Greengrass’s United 93, the unknown cast helps transport the viewer into the ancient Mayan world that is Apocalypto. Most of the acting in the film isn’t perfect, however the use of an arcane language masks most of this. The only standout of the cast is Rudy Youngblood, who plays the main character, Jaguar Paw.
After a relatively slow yet surprisingly comedic first act, the pacing of Apocalypto accelerates so quickly that the movie feels a half an hour shorter than it actually is (the actual running time is 138 minutes). The last act is basically an extended chase scene with Jaguar Paw trying to escape his impending sacrifice by the hands of the brutal attackers. In addition, reports of the array of violence are not entirely true. There is some violence, but the sadistic nature of the violence shown will make the faint of heart squirm.
Summaries of Apocalypto mention the film is about the decline of the Mayan civilization. There are a few scattered references and metaphors to the kingdom’s demise, but the real story ends up being more intimate than that. It essentially becomes a man fleeing his fate of death to save himself and his family.
Apocalypto is a daring, creative cinematic achievement, as well as an audience-pleasing thriller by one of Hollywood’s most controversial filmmakers.
