First off, this movie is beautiful to watch and for the most part, Mel Gibson does a great job with the film. For me, the movie misses on a few huge aspects and we are left with a movie that should have been great but ends up being humorous at times.
It is a story about the Aztec civilization and there quest to appease the gods with human sacrifice. They seek out the natives in the forest to enslave and kill them. This is the first part of the movie where Mel starts messing up. The Aztec?s behead their slaves, but this beheading is not only humorous, watching the heads bounce down the stairs, but it ruins the drama and brings the tension back to square one. So while the tension of the prophesy coming true is beginning, the audience is laughing at the head with the body following it down the stairs.
The next problem I have with this film is due to the predictability and improbability of the second half of the film. Most of the battles and deaths you could see coming from a mile away and though the big chase through the forest was interesting and intense at times it was over the top. For instance, the main character, Jaguar Paw, receives an arrow wound to the stomach and somehow manages to run for over 12 hours without stopping. I realize he is the prophecy but this is a little extreme and the events that follow the chase are a bit too much like Rambo.
I am being a bit more harsh about this movie than others of its type because it had the making to be a classic, to be like Last of the Mohicans, but it will end up being just another decent movie that tried to wow the audience with blood and comic one liners. Check this movie out, but wait for video.
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