Review of Apocalypto (2006) by Smith T — 25 Feb 2018

Mel Gibson is a master at filming adrenaline fueled brutality and Apocalypto is my personal favorite film he has ever directed. Seeing as how Gibson put his own millions on the line to finance it, he pretty much got away with making this primal, visceral chase movie free of zero studio interference that would have surely otherwise come with making this film under the watch of a studio.

It takes a real artist to make an audience feel like they have been transported to the world the filmmaker has set out to create and when I saw Apocalypto at a sold out showing on opening night just over 11 years ago, that's exactly how I felt: transported. The set design, costumes, cinematography and atmospheric score by James Horner, combined with the excellent casting of unknowns speaking the language of the time fluently and effortlessly combined with Gibson's masterful direction makes this one of the top ten best films of the 2000's for me. It's not for the squeamish as the violence and gore come in ample doses, as it often does in a Gibson film, but for those that love a brilliantly made action film by a man whose talent is only matched by his ferocity, you can do no better than Mel Gibson's Apocalypto. 5/5.