Apocalypto
Genre: Action/Adventure
Release Date: December 8th, 2006
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 2 hr. 18 min.
Review by Sirus

Starring:
Dalia Hernandez
Mayra Serbulo

An animal is running through the forest. A naïve man is chasing that animal. The animal trips a wire while running away. As soon as the wire is tripped, a bone spins through the air and then, without warning, the trap springs on its prey. The animal is impaled on seven or eight spikes as they swing towards it with astounding speed. Their prey captured, the rest of the hunters come out of hiding so they can divvy up their share of the meat.

Apocalypto tells the story of a tribe of Mayan hunters and their lives before and during a great tragedy. Apocalypto is a hard movie to review. On the one hand, we have a movie that has a minimalist story and is almost 100% violence. This works great with some films but I think Apocalypto would have benefited from more of a story. What we have at the beginning is a rare look into the lives of the Mayans which I found to be the most interesting part of the entire movie.

After the raid on their village starts, there is very little dialogue, just images of this amazing world. Viewers who are not interested in a story might enjoy the action scenes. The second half of the movie is almost all action but it doesn’t really excite as much as expected. Viewers interested in watching the movie to learn about the Mayan culture will enjoy the beginning but might be turned off by the more action oriented end. It should be noted that the entire movie is in Mayan with English subtitles. Some people will find Apocalypto to be just what they are looking for but the rest will be turned off by the massive amount of violence and lack of story.

HGM SURVIVOR CODE: 33667GHT

Final Score: 2.5/5 stars