I had missed Apocalypto while it was in the theaters, so I was excited to find it sitting on my front porch Monday morning.
The film centers in the 16th century in Mesoamerica. A Mayan villager named Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) goes hunting for a tapir (a wild boar) with his dad, Flint Sky (Morris Birdyellowhead) and other villagers. One of the hunters who is included in this hunting party is Blunted (Jonathan Brewer), a big guy who has had a hard time impregnating his wife Sky Flower (Iazua Larios),…much to the discern of his mother-in-law (Mar?a Isabel D?az.). This has leads him to being the target for a series of practical jokes. While the villagers trick Blunted into eating the tapir?s testicles, another tribe requests passage through their hunting grounds. It seems that they?re the survivors of an attack of a band of Holcane Warriors who raped and killed many of them in their village.
Despite Flint Sky?s warning not to let fear rule his head, Jaguar Paw can?t help but have visions of a nightmarish attack. Unfortunately, the premonition comes true, as those Holcane Warriors, led by Zero Wolf (Raoul Trujillo) and his lieutenant Snake Ink (Rodolfo Palacios), attack their village. Jaguar Paw is able to save his pregnant wife Seven (Dalia Hernandez) and their young son Turtles Run (Carlos Emilio Baez) by hiding them in a deep well, but Snake Ink kills Flint Sky in front of him, while Zero Wolf captures him for the purpose of being a human sacrifice. Jaguar Paw and the other human sacrifices are covered in blue paint and are taken to a Mayan city, where they await a brutal ritual by the High Priest (Fernando Hernandez), who has their hearts removed, decapitates them, and has their headless bodies thrown down the front steps of a Mayan pyramid.
Along the way, an Oracle Girl (Maria Isidra Hoil) inflicted with smallpox warns the warriors of the darkness of the sun in the day and the man who runs with jaguars. Jaguar Paw is just about to be one of the sacrifices, when an eclipse happens (?the darkness of the sun in the day?), and they decide to do their version of The Most Dangerous Game by allowing him to get a head start before they come after him to kill him. Jaguar Paw spends the rest of the movie trying to evade the warriors while trying to get back to his wife and child.
Video
For this transfer, Disney went with a Blu-ray 50 GB disc (BD50) and an AVC 1.85:1 encode averaging around 29-34 Mbps. This transfer is absolutely stunning. I feel it rivals the transfers of both of the recently released Pirates movies, however I still give the edge to the Pirates movies as I feel Apocalypto was ever so slightly softer then Curse of the Black Pearl and Dead Man?s Chest. Flesh tones were spot-on and this transfer lacked any film debris or noise whatsoever. I did notice a unique presence in this film and that was that I saw a slight ?blurring? effect during some action sequences. After some research I have learned this was intentionally added by Director Mel Gibson to give the film more of a ?movement? feel during these sequences. Colors for this film were stunning, especially in many of the jungle scenes where the greens of the trees contrasted beautifully to the blue of the waters. This film definitely shows off the AVC/BD50 combination with pride.
Audio
Audio is an additional area where this Blu-ray transfer does extremely well. I watched the film in the 24bit PCM 5.1 (6.9Mbps) surround mode. For this track the film is in the native Mayan language with subtitles. The sound is very powerful and clear. This film made very good use of the center channel and surrounds in my set-up. It also made good, but not great use of the LFE channel and I feel that is due to the lack of opportunities in the film itself to use the LFE channels. Anyway you slice it, the audio presentation on this discs was very solid.
Special Features
This Blu-ray release of Apocalypto is somewhat sparse of extras. Here is a glimpse of what is included:
- Backstage ? Commentary by Writer/Director/Producer Mel Gibson and Writer/Co-Producer Farhad Safinia.
- Becoming A Mayan: Making Apoaclypto – This is your typical ?behind the scenes? making of this film ranging from the pre-production team to the production team to interviews with the actors involved in this film. I actually enjoyed this featurette and would recommend checking it out.
- Deleted Scenes ? A small collection of deleted scenes from the film. Interesting here is that you can watch these deleted scenes with or without commentary from Mel Gibson and Farhad Safinia.
Final Thoughts
Although I was not a huge fan of this films plot, and the film does get quite violent and graphic at times, the over-all video and audio presentation is first-rate. The video ranks up there with the best of either HD formats, and the audio is very solid as well. So if you are a fan of this film, and enjoyed at the theaters or a fan of ?Mayan? type movies, I would highly recommend this disc for purchase.
Special Features List
- Commentary by Writer/Director/Producer Mel Gibson and Writer/Co-Producer Farhad Safinia
- Becoming A Mayan: Making Apoaclypto
- Deleted Scenes
The “blur” you discussed come from the fact the film was shot on HIGH DEF video and the use of a “long shutter speed.” The HD origination
likely also accounts for the somewhat “soft” feeling.