Apocalypto Review

Say what you like about Mel Gibson, he certainly knows a thing or two about cinematic violence. When it was announced that Mel's follow-up to "The Passion of the Christ" would be another subtitled affair depicting the ancient Mayan civilisations, it seemed like a baffling decision. But he's come up trumps with what is basically a two hour chase movie with lashings of violence.

Rudy Youngblood plays Jaguar Paw, a young Mayan whose peaceful existence is shattered when a band of evil warriors invade his village, capturing the young men and slaughtering the rest of his tribe. Fortunately, Jaguar Paw manages to hide his pregnant wife (Dalia Hernandez), and his young son (Carlos Emilio Baez) in a deep pit, but in doing so he leaves them no means of escape. Jaguar Paw's captors intend to sacrifice him to the Sun God but he escapes and a desperate chase ensues, with vicious warriors Zero Wolf (Raoul Trujillo) and Snake Ink (Rodolfo Palacios) hot on his tail.

Youngblood makes a charismatic lead and Gibson piles on the tension at every turn so you're constantly willing him to succeed. The lengthy chase sequence is superbly staged and terrifically exciting - Gibson even manages to work in the stock cliches of a waterfall dive, an animal attack and a quicksand trap without making them feel stale.

That said it's worth noting that the film is extremely violent and the content may be too extreme for some viewers. There's also a frankly unnecessary amount of animal abuse in the film, with tapirs, panthers, monkeys and even toads all meeting particularly gruesome ends. However, if you can stomach the violence then "Apocalypto" is an extremely enjoyable action thriller, even if it's not quite the weightily themed epic the opening caption would have you believe.