Review of Apocalypto (2006) by Alexander C — 07 Dec 2012

''I am Jaguar Paw! This is my forest! My sons and their sons will hunt here after I am gone! ''As the Mayan kingdom faces its decline, the rulers insist the key to prosperity is to build more temples and offer human sacrifices.

Jaguar Paw, a young man captured for sacrifice, flees to avoid his fate.Rudy Youngblood: Jaguar PawDalia Hernández: SevenImmense, epic, primal Aztec thriller. One man's fight to save his family from impending doom and adversaries intent on his demise.

Firstly I cannot stress enough how you really do feel as soon as Apocalypto begins, you're part of the villagers lives, as it sucks you in you cant help but get a little attached and immersed by them, which I find is a very clever element.

You know something bad is going to happen by the heightened sense of foreboding and when it does it turns the main hero Jaguar Paw's world upside down. Alot of violence and gore intensify the film and show how brutal Aztec life could be in the different yet similar tribal culture.

Mel Gibson has made another successful film study which has alot to say in today's society, about the more we take from the world and don't give back the more the world won't have anything left to give.

Definitely recommend seeing this film to see how Jaguar Paw, wonderfully portrayed by Rudy Youngblood, defies his captors and rushes to save his family who are trapped. Resulting in one of the best chase movies ever, an exotic, blended, subtitled Fugitive but with more adrenaline rushes, blood, gore and shocks.

It's sensitive and Paw's wife Seven is beautiful, wonderfully played by Dalia Hernández. Who could forget her heavily pregnant form and Paw listening to his child within her, and the love they have for each other conveyed in their eyes.

Truly wonderful.For all its seriousness also there are a number of humourous elements within Apocalypto which also sucks you in. Definitely an insight too into Aztec life a long while ago around the time of Christopher Columbus.

Amazing to think there are still tribes similar in the amazon nowadays who bare a remarkable likeness to the tribes on show in Apocalypto, showing that timeless quality, that traditional transition. Sacrifices, graphic scenes and a perspective not just of Jaguar Paw but of the one's chasing him, Zero Wolf is a formidable nemesis who after losing his son is after blood, Paw's blood.

Ultimately Apocalypto gives us a turbulent journey of a man who wants nothing but to get his family back and in this task ends up overcoming impossible odds. Jaguar Paw's adventure and ordeal will make your heart beat fast everytime.