Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

No doubt, an amazing movie directed by the one and only Mel Gibson. Starting from the story to the acting to cinematography, everything is very realistic and top notch which makes this movie a must watch for all film enthusiasts. Loved the movie and I have watched it more than 5 times - Sujan Azad Parikh.

Having seen the 7.8 ratings for this movie, I went out of my way to find a copy to view. It's supposed to be an adventure, action and drama, but that's not how I experienced it.The movie should portray the Mayan people and their culture. The Mayan were a 'civilized' nation, having created great building feats and amenities long before the roman empire was able to do the same.Well, this movie has nothing to do with this. What you get is endless savagery, with primitive people running around in the bush doing ferocious killings of other people. Mel Gibson should know better and the purpose of this movie is beyond me. This movie is a good example of distorting history, other than the sacrificial offerings, which this society indeed practiced.

From the director of Braveheart & The Passion of the Christ comes another brutal & barbaric period piece, this time bringing the rituals, traditions & horrors of the Mayan civilisation to cinematic life in meticulous detail & cut-throat intensity. An epic adventure that scores high marks in all aspects, Apocalypto is another instant classic from Mel Gibson.The story of Apocalypto follows a Mesoamerican hunter whose peaceful tribe is raided by an invading clan. Held captive along with his tribesmen, his people are taken to the raiders' city where some of them are sold as slaves while others are sacrificed to appease their gods. Spared from being beheaded due to an eclipse, he puts up a fight for survival against his oppressors.Co-written & directed by Mel Gibson, Apocalypto employs ancient languages of its setting for dialogues just like his previous feature and the attention to detail evident in every aspect of the depicted ancient culture is absolutely staggering. The storyline is no different from the norm and even packs a few genre clichés but it is a consistently intense & engaging ride for the most part.The era-specific set pieces are a result of extensive research and the well chosen shooting locations helps take the viewers back to the bygone era. Camerawork is kinetic throughout, and its smart manoeuvring & well-timed slow-mo shots give an added intensity to its drama. Editing is bit patchy at first but improves as plot progresses, and its 138 minutes flies by real quick once things get moving.Coming to the performances, the indigenous cast play their respective roles with finesse, leaving not much to complain about. Though not invested in the journey at first, our protagonist eventually manages to make us root for him. As for the violence the film has in store, it's extreme, unadulterated & disturbing to watch. The human sacrifice sequence in particular is graphic, horrifying & shocking.On an overall scale, Apocalypto is another viscerally powerful & downright epic adventure that finds Mel Gibson in prime form and is undeniably one of his best directorial efforts. Once the plot is set into motion, the film never loses its focus and remains entertaining till the end. A testament to Gibson's singular talent for spectacle & his precision eye for detail, Apocalypto is one memorable cinematic experience you cannot afford to miss. Thoroughly recommended.

This is a movie that doesn't know what it is other than a display of gratuitous violence scene after scene...Mel Gibson's Braveheart was violent but at least we all understood where it was going and why it was made like that. This Apocalypto thing however isn't nothing of the sort, and at the end of the movie we can't even understand why it is named Apocalypto.It fails to teach us anything other than there was violence in an ancient civilization; it tries to portray one of the most advanced civilizations in its time as just barbaric and sadistic; it fails to explain to us why things happened the way it did; and last but not the least the myriad of secondary stories are left incomplete and it is our job to figure it out (if we bother).This was a missed opportunity to make something about a rich civilization that deserved to be portrayed in all its magnificence... As it is, this movie could have been done about any other civilization in the world as it just portrays the worst aspect of them all - violence.Violence for the sake of violence doesn't make a good story let alone a good movie about it. This is definitely not worth watching; just a waste of time...