Apocalypto certainly was none of the movies I would have purchased if it weren’t for the still poor offer in BD here in the UK. The fact that the movie was directed by Mel Gibson certainly was no help either as I seem to have created a Mel Gibson hate in recent years, probably helped by a quote I read on rec.arts.movies.international:
Mel Gibson is Stanley Kubrick on steroids.
It seems though that The Passion of Christ no accident was and Mel Gibson actually _can_ direct some. Still, I refuse to acknowledge any comparison to Kubrick, the Master.
Movie
Once more our Australian drunktard has opted for a movie in a pre-civilasition, following in the steps of his freedom fighter drama, this time with some pre-civilisation Bond alike requisites, gadgets. Compare the theme to Casino Royale, the first James Bond series reboot with Daniel Craig and lots of running. End that’s where similarities end. I found it rather hard to enjoy Apocalypto with a nice dry to very dry Martini and the perfect settings to really enjoy the feature seems to be running on a treadmill, which might be difficult to read the subtitles though.
Enough about the film itself, head over to wikipedia to read more information about the movie.
Picture and Audio
The picture and scene setting in this movie are great, but in all honesty the atmosphere really is set by the sound. The audio signal features uncompressed Linear PCM 5.1 (@6.9Mbps) and at times you really think being in the tropical rainforest. The rain sounds true, better than we can imagine rain can actually be, you just want to be there. I heard many more insects (at least I think that was what those sounds were) than I ever imagined existed and the waterfall scene just must be heard in surround with a nice subwoofer. Go ahead, annoy those neighbours they will love you for the brumming bass (or the sound of the running jaguar. This movie makes you want to run faster on the treadmill!
Thanks to the amazing score from James Horner, who perfectly understands the value of a low, drumming bass, this is so far one of the best audio tracks available on Blu-ray.
Extras
The extras on this disc, although in HD (with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track), are rather poor but still worth watching. Actually I advice you to first watch the bonus content before you watch the film itself and chances are big you’ll look forward even more to seeing this movie.
Bonus content
Backstage
Consisting of the compulsory director’s comment and the featurette “Becoming Mayan: Creating ‘Apocalypto’ ” (25 minutes) these addition which can also be found on the DVD, at times feel like a TV documentary for the movie, to get more people to the cinema, but they are worth being watched.
Deleted Scenes
Only one deleted scene is found on this disc.
Other Extras
Except for the typical Buena Vista feature that is Movie Showcase there’s nothing else to be found on the disc, no easter eggs are known either.
Final Thoughts
| Plot |    |
| Picture | |
| Audio | |
| Extra Content | |
This movie release on BD certainly is worth investing in at it guarantees you little more than 3 entertaining hours with an amazing, breathtaking score. One would have hoped for more bonus content or a second disc even. The bonus content sadly sets one back to 1999 and makes one hungry, then again question which raises is:
Do we really want to hear more Mel Gibson than the almost 40 minutes we have now?
No, but still there could have been more BD specials. Luckily the quality of the sound in this movie makes everything much more enjoyable.
