Apocalypto Review up on Hi Def Digest

I guess PQ is not as good as Pirates 4 stars only. Apparently not the whole movie was shot in HD.

it's still tier 0 according to some reviewers.

I currently cannot take advantage of the PCM tracks and find it annoying that they didn't include a Mayan DD track.

i was worried about the same thing but somebody in a diff thread stated their is a mayan DD track

it is definitely a Mayan DD track. There is no English dub on this disc, nor was there one even created for this film.

Dropping the star for video is almost as bad as the half star for audio, which is especially ridiculous.

so i just watched this, and i give it 5/5 on video and audio. the character detail is so rich and vibrant for each extra and main character! you can see on the close ups each little scar, puncture, mole or whatever! the jungle scenes are amazing and you see the veins in leaves everywhere! def a demo disc in my book...

Haven't seen POTC yet on Blu-Ray, but to my eyes this was the best looking Blu-Ray disk I've seen yet. I do see where some of these scenes aren't as consistent as others, but as a whole this movie had more "wow, I had no idea an image could look that great" moments than any other blu-ray disk I've watched. I found myself hitting pause a lot just to take it all in. Great stuff.

I haven't seen the film yet, but the reviewer gave it 3 stars and then talks about Mel Gibson's personal life. He seemed to like the film, but knock at least one star off for his personal opinion of Mel Gibson. Even his conclusion starts


How about just reviewing the frickin' movie? I bet he wouldn't do that to a Roman Polanski directed film.

I hope that this is not the case, as I believe the theatrical presentation also did not receive as much of the critical acclaim it deserved for much the same reason.

Perhaps he is knocking off a star for it's overly violent and at times simplistic in its thematic excesses ?
I don't know.
I have no problem with violence in films, as long as it is not gratuitous. or violence added for the sake of violence which is all too common in today's films and even in presentations on some home theater cruises, for that matter.

The graphic nature of Barbaro breaking his leg real time on live TV (and the image then being re-played again) disturbed me far more than the sum total of violence in the ..movie..Apocalypto.

And as far as "thematic excesses", I guess I am a simple man at times.

I just wish people left out their opinion of Mel Gibson when reviewing his movies. I don't care what you think of the man, just review the disc. Boggles my mind as to what passes as a "review" these days. So unprofessional.

It's the internet...lowered standards....

I completely agree. This is one of the best soundtracks I have heard. Period.

And the video is excellent as well. Top shelf material!

Gee, I don't want to just keep saying "me too", but "me too"! It's completely unnecessary, and I don't care who it is: Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, or even Michael Moore , just review the damn movie!

I agree. I honestly think Peter underrated the film on the video. It's 5 stars all the way.

It seems odd that reviewers these days always have to remind readers of Mel Gibson's pass transgressions but yet when they review Roman Polanski's movies, they gave him a free pass with his past transgressions. Whats the deal with that? Being indicted as a pedophile is more forgiving than being drunk and blurting out racial slurs?

I have to say I have difficulty trusting any of Peter Bracke's star ratings, he is wildly inconsistent. Notice "Traffic" and "March of the Penguins" also got 4 stars for PQ from this reviewer, and I can't imagine "Apocalypto" coming close to the PQ disasters as those films.

I've ordered the BD disc from Amazon anyway, and I'll make my own judgments, but I would probably look toward other reviewers if I was on the fence.

Thanks for pointing that out.

Yes ...I can't imagine Traffic and March of the Penguins are in the same PQ league as Apocalypto. Peter Bracke is very inconsistent.

I agree, he is becoming somewhat inconsistent. I always read at least one other review, after I read Peter's

I watched Apocalypto tonight and was VERY pleased. A great Tier 0 title.

************ SPOILERS ******************

The story was great, the action continuous, and the pq amazing....

The only thing i was somewhat ambiguous about was the depiction of the spanish as some sort of saviors. In fact, these guys wiped out and killed more people by far than the mayans ever did

Disease did most of the killing as there weren't nearly enough Conquistadors to do it themselves. In the context of the story, it looked to me like the city Mayans were gonna face justice for all those victims of their blood sacrifices. :shrug:

*************MORE SPOLIERS********************


Granted, I'm not a history buff, but I'm not sure how you saw the spanish as some sort of saviours (if you're refering to the end of the film with ships coming to dock). To me, I felt as that was the beginning the end of their civlization.

*******MORE MORE SPOILERS**********
I just finished watching this and I have to give Gibson some credit for the ending, and the movie as a whole. When the spanish were arriving there was an obvious shot of the priest holding the cross. The protagonist of the story decided to go back to the forest rather than embrace the newcomers, it was the "bad guy" mayan's who went to them. Along with the omen, I thought it was perfectly clear that the christian spanish were not saviors, but harbingers of their demise. Just when you think things couldn't get any worse, here come the christians to "save" the day.

Mel Gibson wanted to make a movie showing the demise of a great civilization usually starts from within, not from external forces. The Mayans were so preoccupied with sacrificial rituals and butchering themselves, they were weaken and left defenseless when the Conquistadors came. Most of the movie showed the Mayan civilization decaying by their own device. Then at the end, Gibson let the viewers see the finisher.

well, the funny thing was that the Mayan civilization collapsed BEFORE the spanish ever came...in fact, their cities were abandoned i believe hundreds of years before the spanish came...gibson's making fairy tales

And I think he's confusing the Aztec civilization, which WAS pretty bloody, with the Mayan one? The spanish did meet the aztecs and hastened their fall...the mayans if i remember were relatively peaceful, although they did drown people in those cenotes.

Can't speak for Apocalypto yet, but Pirates 1 transfer was excellent. Pirates 2 had a mixed bag look. Some scenes top tier, others...eh. Man, you get spoiled when they do everything right.

How did you come to that conclusion? As others have said, it was more like the beginning of the end.