If you thought Mel Gibson had a screw loose after his DUI arrest, wait until you see Apocalypto. This bizarre action epic set amidst the last throes of the Mayan civilization reveals a mind obsessed with the ways human flesh can be eviscerated. Yet it also reveals a filmmaker curious about other things – history, different cultures, man’s fight-or-flight instinct. Though this will be a punching bag, Gibson has accomplished what the revered Terrence Malick failed to do in 2005’s The New World. Both movies trace the end of the world as indigenous Americans once knew it, but only Gibson’s, partly due to its visceral immediacy, makes such apocalyptic ruminations feel, well, apocalyptic.
