Complete with perilous waterfall jumps, jaguar maulings, and sacrificial beheadings, Gibson’s latest effort returns to his epic art of storytelling through shockingly magnificent imagery, and his mastery of suspense and action will almost certainly leave you at the edge of your seat. Violently thrilling, Apocalypto is a visual tour de force that evolves from its story of survival into a passionate triumph of courage and revenge and a glimpse at the undoing of a civilization.

The tale is simple, yet a surprisingly powerful one. A peaceful Mayan village is attacked by invading forces and Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) is viciously separated from his family (but not before hiding his wife and child in a well) and sent to a fantastical city built on blood, fear, and oppression, where he is to become a human sacrifice to the gods. A twist of fate offers him a chance to escape and with his unwavering determination and bravery he embarks on a bloody voyage to rejoin his family. Savagely pursued by his enemies, Jaguar Paw will need to utilize the skillful prowess and cunning tricks taught to him by his father to evade capture.

Though masked by the unique setting of an ancient Mayan culture, emotions are surprisingly familiar thanks to a talented cast of relatively unknown actors. Facial piercings, tattooing, and foreign languages cannot hide the human emotions of love, hatred, courage, and fear that bring to life this stunning adventure where good guys are good, bad guys most definitely bad, and death is as brutally vivid as possible. While the average viewer may be put off by reading subtitles, the harsh language of Maya Yucateco adds an authenticity to the proceedings that would have been unattainable if substituted or dubbed. The language and culture of ancient Maya may differ vastly from any of today, but their emotions do not. The people of Jaguar Paw’s village love their wives and children, instill honor and courage in their lives, and even joke and play pranks on one another. The cast (comprised of many first time actors) has commendably created real people with real emotions that an audience can easily relate to regardless of their appearance or lifestyle.

As with Gibson’s previous film, the imagery and visuals tell more story than any dialogue could ever hope to. A civilization is brought to life with stunningly realistic settings ranging from huts of grass and tree branches to towering pyramids of stone. Paintings and ornaments grace the outer city, while decapitated heads and bloody stairways decorate the sacrificial pyramids within. Savagely beautiful costumes of animal skins, tattoos, and human bones adorn the people of this mysterious ancient world. More drastic piercings and heavy scarring separate the good from the bad and each character has their own unique hairstyle and tattoo patterns.

It seems Gibson has always had a penchant for severe bloodletting in his films and Apocalypto is no different. This time around, however, the bloodthirsty violence emphasizes the evils that men do to one another and to most adequately satisfy the thirst for revenge. Several of the villains portrayed are so vile in fact, that to see them meet their demise peacefully would almost certainly be a letdown. While it’s not for the squeamish, the viscerally charged bloodshed adds a degree of realism to the harsh environments and dire events depicted, as well as a raw intensity to the survival instincts of the creatures hunting or being hunted (be it man or beast). Is the violence gratuitous? Yes, but necessarily so, as this Fugitive-esque chase on steroids would lose all manner of riveting intensity and compelling intrigue without it.

While not fundamentally a new beginning for Mel, Apocalypto does infuse visceral imagery unlike anything else we’ve seen before into an action film that eclipses many of the recent tired churnings of supposed genre filmmakers. Regardless of any historical inaccuracies or creative liberties taken, it is undeniable that Gibson knows how to draw an audience into his universe of strong performances, ceaseless adventure, unflinching violence, and ultimately beautiful filmmaking.

-Joel Massie