Apocalypto

I respect APOCALYPTO more than I liked it.

Don't get me wrong: there's plenty to like about the movie. It's your basic "hunted man" picture, and that's a formula that's nearly impossible to botch. Problem is, APOCALYPTO is just a "hunted man" movie. I guess I was expecting something more: a meditation on Mayan civilization, perhaps, or at least a deeper journey into that culture.

Here's the setup: Jaguar Paw is doin' all right. He's the heir apparent to his father's tribal chiefdom. He's a good hunter, a good guy, and a good husband and father. He essentially embodies a tribal Mayan version of rustic virtue. Then, slavers from the city show up. They burn down his village, capture him and his friends, and drive them to the corrupted city for sacrifice. During the raid, Jaguar Paw managed to hide his family. He has to escape and get back to them, and to do so he has to evade the hunters who track him every step of the way.

As I said, it's a perfectly good "hunted man" picture, and I liked it fine. The respect part comes in with APOCALYPTO's realization of Mayan culture. The scenes in the corrupted city are nothing short of breathtaking, as the film imagines, down to the last detail of architecture and costume, what Mayan civilization may actually have felt and looked. It's awesome, and awe-inspiring, and I wound up appreciating and respecting its ambition and audacity more than anything else.

I liked APOCALYPTO just fine, but I tip my had to its ambition and audacity. It's worth seeing for that alone.