Film Review No. 3

Apocalypto
Direction: Mel Gibson

My verdic:

Script - 1/10. Yes! One out of Ten! Aside from the superlinear plot, Mel Gibson (or his co-writer) commited a screenwriting blunder that history buffs will readily recognize.
---SPOILER WARNING---
The movie was set in the Mayan civilization. this is apparent from the usual prayer of the characters to Kukulkan, the feathered serpent god of the Maya. The blunder came in the end of the movie where the natives came across with the spaniards. Oops! It was the Aztecs who met with the Spaniards. not the Mayans. The Maya civilization collapsed around 900AD or more than 500 years before Hernan Cortes and his lackeys drank their first tequila.
---END OF SPOILER---
Substitute Kukulkan with Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec equivalent for the same feathered serpent god and the script should have been fixed. BUT even so, i can give it a generous 5/10 for the not-so-film-worthy script. Using a weird language throughout the film is not an excuse to get any higher score for a flimsy plot. I'll watch a Discovery Channel feature instead.

Cinematography - 9/10. There were scenes in the human sacrifice where the camera is shot through the eyes of the person who's about to die. Add this to the faceless nobles and priests and the fanatic crowd demanding blood for their god amidst the awesome re-creation of the meso-American stepped pyramids.

Acting - 8/10. I dunno who the actors are. But the actor portraying the protagonist Jaguar Paw did a good job portraying fearlessness when facing hopeless odds.

Music - 10/10. Horay for James Horner! I used to think he's just one of those usual hollywood film composers who'd use run-of-the-mill orchestras for the film music. The bagpipe solos in Braveheart were not actually 'tsamba'. The haunting native sounds in Apocalypto confirms his versatility as a composer.

Direction - 7/10. This is not Mel Gibson's best movie. But if you're just for the blood and the gore then this may be your film.