Apocalypto (2006)
Director: Mel Gibson
Text: Matt Bochenski
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Fact: Mel Gibson is mental. Everybody knows this.
He has a strange relationship with violence and masculinity. It was there in Braveheart (“You’re torturing me! It hurts! Stop… okay, carry on!”), The Passion of the Christ and it’s there in Apocalypto, his bizarre vision of Mayan civilisation.
There are headless bodies, disembowelled torsos, slit throats, you name it. But does it work? Not really.
Sitting uneasily between Mad Max in a jungle and studious historical reconstruction, the film fails to satisfy on either count.
