Mel Gibson, Drunken Racist, Perhaps, But Quite a Filmaker

I went to a late showing of "Apocalypto" the other night. This being the latest film from Mel Gibson and his first film released since his drunken anti-Jew rant a while back.

Say what you want about Gibson the person, but Gibson the movie director is really good. This movie would not be for everyone. For one, it's completely subtitled, so if you don't like reading your movies, you may not like it. It's also pretty violent. Remember, Gibson directed "Braveheart" and "Passion of the Christ," so he tends to keep the blood flowing. It's also about the ancient Mayans, something that doesn't exactly pop up in movies very often.

The movie starts out a little slowly, and has some kind of bizarre scenes talking about mating rituals and guys laughing at another guy for eating testicles and, well, it's kind of strange. But then, the movie kicks in as soon as the bad guys come to the village. From this point on, the movie is very intense and does not let up until the final scene. And that's no joke, it remains very intense all the way through. The final third is another take on the whole "Most Dangerous Game" scenario. It's all very well done. Does it add up to much? No, it doesn't, nor does it give a whole lot of insight into the Mayan culture and all that. But as an exercise in non-stop action, it more than fits the bill.

One quibble. In one scene, one of the Mayan warriors says the "F" word. Did that word exist back then? Also, in another scene, there is a line spoken that is a very famous line of movie dialogue. Was that intentional? No one else in the theatre reacted to it, but it stuck out to me. Just kind of weird these two very contemporary moments in a movie about an ancient culture.