Mel Gibson’s fourth film as a director and second archiveable film after 1995’s Oscar-Winning Braveheart
Gibson is an auteur—reminiscent of Peckinpah in some ways, Walter Hill, maybe Herzog a little– John Milius especially—violence, masculinity, revenge—all important themes for Gibson.
He clearly could do anything he wanted here after the success of The Passion of the Christ– a foreign-language film, no known actors, a blood-bath of a film shot in the jungle in Mexico here. Expensive set pieces
A talented crew- the DP from Dances With Wolves, James Horner doing the score, Thomas Sanders did the product design- from Coppola’s Dracula film and would go on to work with del Toro on Crimson Peak
Fall of civilization from within in the opening titles
Opens with humor, Gibson telling us this is their Eden of sorts—and that comes crashing down of course with sadism, torture (other themes for Gibson)—there’s not a ton of nuance—like James Cameron, DeMille- there’s a pure evil here as in Passion and Braveheart—a bit lumbering and general
Shot with digital camera– not quite the achievement 2006’s Miami Vice is from Michael Mann on digital but still- this is a very good film, gorgeous
Stunning sacrificial set pieces
Stunning sacrificial set pieces
A shot at 72 minutes moving in on removing the beating heart—and from behind the skyline of the set pieces in a row—dazzling
A shot at 72 minutes moving in on removing the beating heart—and from behind the skyline of the set pieces in a row—dazzling
Death to the conquerors by panther, snake, bees—biblical – the boar killing in the opening coming back around
A potent scene- Spanish ships coming in at the beach in the finale
A potent scene- Spanish ships coming in at the beach in the finale
Recommend leaning Highly Recommend. I do think it is Gibson’s strongest work to date as a director
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