I've heard of 'Apocalypto' for quite awhile. I always found the title intriguingly eerie and mysterious. It was hard to really know what to expect based on the title alone, more difficult than most movies, to me.
This movie's plot was fairly simple, but that's a part of what made the film kind of excellent to me. A group of Maya people are basically invaded and it's a story of the events that follow.
'Apocalypto' is simply one of the greatest, purest action adventure movies I have ever seen in my life. It's like the ideal adrenaline rush of a movie. It's as edgy and intense as it gets mixed with a great amount of wholesomeness and even comedy at certain times.
As far as I can tell, this movie is authentic in terms of visuals. The Maya people/actors featured in the film seem as legit as it gets when it comes to their style, language and culture. I really felt as if I were transported into another world or time period.
There were times that the movie felt mildly predictable or repetitive but I also see this as a good thing as well. Everything felt pretty realistic to me. The whole society of the Maya people felt very different, yet understandable in a way. Very interestingly complex, beautiful and brutal. Truly, this film was just special to me.
The film hit a whole new level for me when Jaguar Paw was tentatively 'spared' of course he wasn't meant to be spared for long. When he manages to escape his captors when he clearly wasn't really meant to, the whole vibe switched from intense to a whole new level of intensity. That entire chase was pure cinema greatness. Jaguar Paw is really really built different man. I love characters like that. Sheer determination and will to survive by him was just inspiring.
When Jaguar Paw saw the men coming off of those boats, clearly Europeans, it was just a subtle but incredibly interesting addition to the story. I can't even find the words exactly but it just added a sense of mystery even though of course I am pretty familiar with like, the story of European explorers coming over to the Americas. I can only imagine what Jaguar Paw was thinking. He had a whole ton of people chasing him who wanted to kill him in a likely brutal way, then these random people on boats show up who have an entirely different vibe and look in general to them. It must have been so weird for Jaguar Paw.
This was honestly a treat to watch. This was a straight up awesome action movie that was also massively thought provoking.
'Apocalypto' was similar to many action adventure movies in some ways. But the ways it stood out were profound to me.
