It's understandable why people were so confused/conflicted/shock'n'awe'd by Apocalypto. It's a pretty solid kick ass action movie only set in a nearly unrecognizable - for this Anglo - Central American past. While yes the movie was not historically accurate - I thought that Cortes and the Spaniards showed up on the Aztecs watch, oh wait they did - and yeah there were a couple of moments I actually said, "Hurry up with the killing." but all in all Apocalypto was exactly what I wanted to watch on a Sunday afternoon by myself while eating leftover pizza.
The acting was perfectly reasonable, the story was perfectly reasonable, the cinematography was excellent, the set and costume design was even better, and except for a couple moments of shaky cam the direction was right on. One thing I was surprised by was how un-graphically violent it was. Saving Private Ryan is far worse. I wasn't disappointed but I was a little let down. I checked out a couple of reviews and people were whining about the violence. I did like the hand to hand combat sequences. People just beat the shit out of each other, no kung-fu but bad ass throws and grapples and good old fashioned ass kicking.
I would like to see more movies about the Aztecs - in particular I'd like to see a big budget Cortes vs Montezuma movie - lots of blood in the sand. I think there are a couple of Spanish flicks from the 60s that I remember seeing on TV a million years ago. Worse comes to worse I'll just have to reread Bernal Diaz's The Conquest of New Spain again.
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