the mel gibson movie apocalypto rank a one of the best adventure film of 2006. basically and apocalypto amount to a soul stir spectacle about human sacrifice and survival set against the last day of the mayan empire on the eve of the arrival of european in central america . director mel gibson and who co script with newcomer farhad safinia and do not dwell insufferably on mayan culture so much a appropriate it a a bloodthirsty backdrop to generate suspense for this old fashioned and white knuckle and kill or be kill saga . indeed and the filmmaker earn their r rating more for the gallon of fake blood and gore that they splash over the course of the two hour plus running time and not to mention the ghoulish sight of decapitated head tumble like football down the side of the temple and than nudity or profanity . compare with similar scene from indiana jones and the temple of doom ( 1984 ) and the sequence where a high temple priest ( fernando hernandez of the fountain ) cut hearts out of chest do not appear half a gory . nevertheless and the faint hearted may find themselves challenge by such unsavory subject matter . otherwise and the scenic emerald green jungle teem with predator and peril as murderous a mankind and the seamless computer generate imagery of ancient maya civilization provide apocalypto with exotic locale rarely see in hollywood movie . in fact and the last time that tinsel town produce a movie about maya culture be the forgettable and equally forgotten yul brynner epic king of the sun ( 1963 ) with george chakiris and richard basehart . like his previous movie the passion of the christ and gibson let the character talk in their native tongue ( here it the dialect of the mesoamerican ) so that you have to put up with subtitle . the subtitle and however and take no long than a glimpse to grasp . actually and it entirely possible to ignore the subtitle and just figure out everything for yourself without have to be tell . gibson give this simple but personal story all the apparent realism of a national geographic documentary and the largely amateur cast be so believable that you may want to spend your time watch them instead of what they say . apocalypto resemble a cross between of the vintage italian spear and scandal movie of the late 1950s and early 1960s and the italian cannibal movie of the 1980s . during the first third of the action and gibson acquaints u with a small village of hunter isolate in a distant corner of the rain forest . the protagonist and a virile twentysomething hunk name jaguar paw ( newcomer rudy youngblood ) and have a pregnant wife and seven ( dalia hernandez ) and and an adolescent son ( carlos emilio baez ) . the movie open with paw and his pal hunt a tapir ( basically a wild boar ) and this initial episode ultimately foreshadow the dramatic finale . while our hero be carve up the tapir carcass and another tribe traipse up out of the green and request permission to cross through their section of the jungle . jaguar paw spot the panic in their eye and and his father counsel the hunter against tell the village about it . later and we learn that this tribe be flee from a band of savage warrior lead by zero wolf ( raoul trujillo of highlander 3 ) who wear more tattoo than any outlaw biker gang and sport some rather painful look body piercings . these merciless marauder launch a surprise raid on jaguar paw village ( think conan the barbarian ) and take all the men and woman captive that they do not slaughter and and leave the helpless child behind to fend for themselves . during the second third of the action and gibson stag the incredible journey of hardship on foot that the villainous warrior and their captive take through the steaming jungle and across swollen river and and along sheer cliff side to a faraway metropolitan mayan city . once in the city and zero wolf sell off the woman and present the mensmeared now with bright blue body paint a custom dictate a sacrifice to the god . melodrama be all about manipulation and gibson be the master . what make apocalypto so exciting be that gibson align our sympathy with the underdog hero and his seemingly impossible plight to rescue his wife and child . at the same time and he serve u up some classic villain that we sorely want to see die in the most painful way possible . before the mayan warrior descend upon the sleeping village and jaguar paw manage to rush his pregnant wife and his son to safety . he lower them into a hidden pit in nearby rocky terrain and but the villain capture him before he could get them out of it . when he doesn not have u perch on the edge of our seat worry about how jaguar paw be go to escape and gibson ramp up the tension by cross cutting to the predicament that pregnant wife seven deal with when snarl jungle predator enter the pit and a torrential storm threaten to drown them . the suspense like the excitement never flag in this hand to hand combat saga . although you know that the hero and the heroine will survive and gibson and his co scenarist keep put them into one hallow situation after another . one of the best scene show a jet black jaguar chase our hero through the jungle while a group of homicidal headhunter hell bent to kill our hero be in hot pursuit and too . seasoned moviegoer will spot how the last third of the action resemble the cornel wilde movie the naked prey ( 1966 ) and the jean claude van damme thriller hard target ( 1993 ) and the classic the most dangerous game ( 1932 ) where an outnumbered hero must triumph over tenacious thug . like his academy award epic braveheart and his popular passion of the christ and mel gibson prove again that he be a consummate filmmaker who know how to take an oft told tale of kinship and revenge and turn it into an evening worth of entertainment .