Honestly, I am not quite sure how I should describe my experience of watching this film. It is like a chameleon, showing different colors in disguise at different time points just to mystify your minds and then catch you off-guard.
It is fair to say that the movie started with some great shots. The suspense mingled with sadness perpetuated the first 15 minutes of this film. As the story unfolds, the sex scenes became a little bit sticky and salty, as the movie tried to associate the sex with food first and guilt later.
All the metaphores in this movie became less and less impressive near the end of the movie. Surprisingly, the ending has achieved some sort of reconciliation and salvation with peace. Maybe that is exactly the intention of the filmmakers.
It's easy to regard this film as a lesson of history. Did the director Mel Gibson intend to deliver the message to the modern society, especially the Western ones? What could we learn from the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, a once-great civilization that was devoured by the Western civilization?
"History was written by those who hanged heroes." Today, history is also written by filmmakers. Movies based on historical events can easily spawn controversy since people tend to pick on accuracy and viewpoints. Nevertheless, without the technology of turning back time who can confidently speak the whole truth and nothing but the truth of the history?
Gibson's filming skills have already astonished us by "Braveheart (1994)" and "Passion of the Christ (2004)." But "Apocalypto" once again proves that Gibson is capable of shaking up the world. Just like the heroes he depicted in his movies, Gibson thrust into the pond of blood and muds and survived at a high cost. Some might criticize the massive graphic violence Gibson showed on the screen. However, the ultra-violence is just part of the reality in history.
"Apocalypto" didn't get the credits it deserved partly due to Gibson's racial slur against Jewish people during his arrest for DUI. This incident might have dented his credibility of making such a great flick. Additionally, it's probably hard for Hollywood to acknowledge a movie about non-Western heroes without any white companion. Nonetheless, I believe many Hollywood filmmakers can learn a thing or two from a movie like this: treating a non-Western hero with absolute respect and compassion.
Novelty is probably the most crucial component inherent to the film "Babel." The filmmakers attempted to link four stories that occur at three different continents thousands of miles away from each other on earth. Such an attempt is admirable. However, it remains arguable whether these four stories are really associated with each other at a meaningful level. Linking four different stories certainly hinges on a commonality, which appears to be a lethal rifle. However, the Mexican adventure failed to exert any effect on this commonality except for the relationship between the children and the two American tourists (played by Brad Pitt and Kate Branch). Of course, the struggling to save the people you love may serve as a better theme for these four stories, but the Japanese girl's story did not quite fit this profile.
Overall, the directing, acting, and cinematography, etc. have made this movie a quality work. The script, unfortunately, may have left something to be desired.
Frank Miller's graphic novels are nearly the storyboards for filmmakers. In other words, directors can easily know what the movies could look like before they start shooting any scene. The movie "300" is the highlight of the adaptation of Miller's works.
The question is: what else did the director Zach Snyder bring to the story except the adrenalin-pumping and action-packed moments? Some critics use "airless" to describe this movie, while I think such a comment would appear to be unfair to the actors. The reason why I enjoy watching "300" is primarily the performance of Gerry Butler who portrayed the legendary Leonidas. Butler has proved to the world his mesmerizing acting by the role of "phantom" in "Phantom of the Opera (2005)," the adaptation of the beloved Broadway show with the same title. His Leonidas is not only convincing but also commands the movie as Leonidas commanded his Spartan army.
Watching "300" is no doubt a highly entertaining journey.
"Pan's Labyrinth (Laberinto del fauno, El)" is the gem of the fantasy movies. In fact, it is not even a typical fantasy film. The wonderland found by many characters in fairy tales is absent in this story. Instead, the secret garden looks like a hell in "Pan's Labyrinth." The script is intelligently written yet it never loses the touch of humanity and compassion. The personalities of the main characters are multi-layered despite the theme is consistently melancholic. Brutality and beauty go hand in hand towards their dooms. Seldom has any filmmaker tried to seduce the audience with a mixture of reality and fantasy by such a dark and tragic ensemble of components. The director/writer Guillermo del Toro has no doubt achieved something unprecedentedly.
