<p><i>Apocalypto</i><br>Director Mel Gibson<br>Buena Vista Pictures<br><img src=http://www.dailybruin.com/ae/paw.jpg width=25><img src=http://www.dailybruin.com/ae/halfpaw.jpg width=13> <br/>?Apocalypto? may sport all the features of a promising indie film ? subtitles, unknown actors and racy content ? but the formulaic plot turns it into another carbon-copy blockbuster. <br/>For his latest project, Mel Gibson touts the film?s authentic shooting locations and locally cast players, celebrating his departure from the classic studio soundstage and use of established actors. <br/>But as his film proves, no matter how hard he pushes, Gibson cannot escape the trap of Hollywood convention. <br/>Granted, the film?s setting and circumstance are unlike anything that has been tackled recently. ?Apocalypto? follows the decline of Mayan civilization, illustrating both the simplicity and danger of life during a bygone time. <br/>But that is where innovation ends and formula begins. The ambitious plotline of the descent of the Mayan kingdom subsides, giving way to the main focus of the film: Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood). <br/>The story has been done before. A man, Jaguar Paw in this case, is mercilessly ripped away from his pregnant wife and young son and spends the rest of the film struggling to survive in order to rescue and reunite with his family. <br/>The film relies on gimmick: grotesque violence, predictable romance and tear-jerkingly cute children. <br/>During the first half of the film, which depicts the pillage of Jaguar Paw?s village, the ?poor, abandoned children? money shot makes its way into the film more times than the captured parents do. <br/>The extreme brutality takes on a more comical appeal akin to the ?Kill Bill? series as one hunter slashes the head of another, exposing an artery and resulting in an extended sequence of blood squirting out of his head in rhythm with his slowing heartbeat. <br/>Scenes such as this justify Gibson?s decision to use the Mayan language, Yucatec, and include English subtitles (a device already proven successful in his previous film, ?The Passion of the Christ?). Since half the movie is consumed with stomach-churning carnage, dialogue rarely finds a spot in the film and the foreign language never becomes a distraction. <br/>Regardless, the film entertains ? albeit, only those who are easily amused. The action is exciting, but gruesome, even offensive. The actors are strange and unfamiliar, but still attractive and charismatic. <br/>?Apocalypto? may not be the unique film Gibson has claimed it to be, but it satisfies those with low expectations and open minds. <br/><hr><div align=center><img src=/images/2006/9/29/Ratings.jpg></div></p><br><br><a href='; target='_blank'>;