Over the past few months there has been talk about Mel Gibson and his new film Apocalypto. Many have questioned whether or not Mel might get shunned for an Oscar nomination because of his most recent personal troubles. Well the best thing about this film is that Mel Gibson put to rest any questions of whether he should receive an Oscar nomination by putting out one of the worst movies he has ever done. He will not receive an Oscar nod because of his personal problems, but merely because he doesn’t deserve one.

From the scripting, the filming, and all the way to the unrealistic events that transpire in what seems to be the longest running scene in a movie not involving a high school track team or Forest Gump, this movie was just poorly done. Many times I found myself thinking that I was watching a low budget discovery channel documentary, just waiting for a voice to come over the film to explain to the audience what it was that they were seeing. All that being said, I will give credit where credit is due. Mel Gibson and the makers of Apocalypto did a fantastic job with scenery and costumes. They did a great job of really making you feel as if you were in a different time. Of course some of that was negated by taking what felt like modern day dialogue/jokes and adding them into the film. Maybe 600 years ago, they joked like that, but it only seemed to modernize the film to me, and take me out of the mindset that we were supposed to be back so many years.

The film is set in Mesoamerica just before Spanish contact, and supposedly depicts the decline of the Maya civilization. However, the decline of the civilization is never explained in the movie, and if you have not read about, or been told about the filmmakers idea, you will probably not get it. In the film, the Mayan’s are a vicious, savage group, who enslaves others and sacrifice them to appease their god. This is portrayed very well in the film, when heads begin to role down the steep temple stairs. However, how one is to come to the conclusion that they meant that this use of needless killing was the downfall of a civilization is beyond my comprehension. The movie leaves us with the civilization still very much in tact. Apocalypto is actually the story of one mans struggle to save his family from certain death. After his village is destroyed and he is taken captive, he must find a way to escape. As he makes his way back to try and save the women he loves, he must fend off the jungle, the elements and his captors as they try to track him down and kill him.

Overall I was very disappointed with this film. I still think Mel Gibson is a fantastic director, who just had a bad movie this time. He has done very well with all his previous movies, and hopefully he will continue to do so in the future. Regardless of how you feel personally towards the man, he is a very talented artist.