film: Apocalypto

[L2R]

d Mel Gibson

s lots of pretty people with bad teeth

trailer

Ever since i read about MG's upcoming film and the possibility that it will be shot entirely in ancient Mayan language much alike his Aramaic work in the very ordinary "Passion of The Christ", I've been genuinely intrigued with the project. The trailer now only piques my interest even more.

I wonder how many 2012 doomsday predictions this film will hold.

 

[psychetool]

Looks weird. Better trailer.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/touchstone/apocalypto/large.html

 

[Product X]

I can't wait for this to come out.Weren't the Mayans big on using psychedelics like mushrooms?

 

[Belisarius]

^
Yeah. I even hear they gave ayahuasca enemas. No shit. :D

 

[pennywise]

I saw this tonight. Twisted, violent, disturbing, token female nudity...that's what I call good entertainment. The human sacrifice scene was the embodiment of a bad acid trip, and the action was bloody and brutal. I think that the fact that the conditions depicted in this movie for the most part existed in real life at the time makes it even more interesting, and in some way justifies the graphic violence. The fact that it was subtitled made little difference, as dialogue is not the driving force behind this film. The characters look very authentic, and you can tell alot of effort went into their costumes, including all the cool body modification (although perhaps some of the actors already had the body mods).

I know alot of people are angry at Mel for the whole Jew thing, but this is a good movie nevertheless.

 

[tambourine-man]

Looks VERY interesting.

 

[rm-rf]

i can not wait for this movie! its about time a proper mezoamerican flick was done.

 

[KBeesH]

Saw it...Hearts being ripped out,decapatation,babies being thrown, and just really gorey..It's alls subtitles but it's easy to follow...I gotta say Mel Gibson did great..The movie was written really well

 

[tambourine-man]

Yeah, I'm sure he'll be crying between quaffs of Bollinger while he's sat in his luxury hot tub, bought with the profits of his latest 'directorial failure'. :D

Critical failures, perhaps (as in, he makes cheap-shot films that the critics don't enjoy).

Directorial failure? Nope.

 

[rm-rf]

damn braveheart is like the coolest movie ever. its gorey cuz well, when you get shot in the neck with an arrow blood squirts out, just like when you get your face bashed in with a mace, your bones get crushed and recieve massive contisions.


id prefer a more realistic depiction of a heart being removed as opposed to some corny camera turning the other way with viscious sound effects or other cheesier way to pull off such a dramatic event. I think part of the reason people dont fear allowing modern society to regress back into a much less civilized state is that they dont understand the violent struggles that led to modernized civilization. we live in a society where wars are fought by pressing buttons, not where peons have to defend their rights to breathe air by hacking apart their opressors with farm equipment. its good for people to get a dose of gore in this regard, so they can see why life in the ancient world is teh suk.


the media depicts mel gibson as a racist. ive never met him so i dont know. therefore, his movies (all of them) still kick mountains of ass.

 

[DarthMom]

i think it looks fabulous, though gibson's rep as a racist and neo con fundie make me more aware than ever that it is just a movie anyone expecting different from hollywood, ever, is disillusioned.

 

[alasdairm]

rate this movie

alasdair

 

[tambourine-man]

It doesn't matter if they make money. They are still failures. I didn't say "financial failures" or "box office failures", I said directorial.. so I don't really see where you're coming from.

I'm saying that I'm unsure how you can define 'directorial failure'.

Usually, 'directorial failure' is synonymous with 'critical failure'... in that a small number of journalists didn't like it. Given that the role of director is pretty broad and that different directors appear to be judged on differing criterion, it's hard to write his films off as 'directorial failures'.

And for the record, Braveheart was one of the most appalling films in the history of the universe.

 

[tambourine-man]

I consider his body of work as a director to consist of 'failures' because they are (without exception), in my opinion, terrible films. I can only express things from my own perspective. I don't mean to imply that nobody liked them or that they didn't make money. I suppose it all depends on what his goal is as a director.

I don't think his main intention was financial (eg. to remodel his hot tub), given that he was already a multi-multi-multi millionare actor before he began his career as a film-maker. I think he was after critical success> which you admit he has failed to acheive.

Mmmmm... yeah. I see your point. One of the reasons I loathed Braveheart was it's complete contempt for any semblance of historical accuracy. And having re-read my comments in that film's thread, I can appreciate what you're saying about his slapdash approach to representing cultures in a caricatured and Hollywood-ese manner.

Back to the point about directorial aims, I'm not sure what Gibson's aims are. I think he's probably aware that he isn't getting the critical success that usually goes alongside such 'historical epics', but he is succeeding in telling stories and entertaining a great many people. Lowest common denominator it may be, but I do wonder if that's what he considers to be his yardstick.

 

[Peruvian Cocaine]

if u want historical accuracy, go to the history channel, not hollywood.

 

[tambourine-man]

Thanks for making the reply I couldn't be bothered to write. :D

 

[Peruvian Cocaine]

So where do we cut the line between "enough" historical accuracy, and not enough? Maybe the sets in apocalypto (or anything for that matter) was romanticized for an artistic effect?

 

[pennywise]

What is the historical inaccuracy?

To my knowlege, the aztecs enganged in human sacrifice in a manner basically consistent with what was depicted in the film.

 

[Chronik Fatigue]

^
Yeah. I even hear they gave ayahuasca enemas. No shit. :D

LOL... Nice pun.

 

[tambourine-man]

To my knowlege, the aztecs enganged in human sacrifice in a manner basically consistent with what was depicted in the film.

But I bet that particular gruesome practice accounted for 0.01% of their time (if that). Another 9.99% was probably spent fixing shit and hunting, and the 90% of the rest of the time they were probably sat around scratching their arses.

Caricaturisation.