# Apocalypto is a silly movie. Yep, that's all. Spoilers. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 31, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypto-is-a-silly-movie-yep-thats-all-spoilers/451305 "2008-05-31T22:52:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypto-is-a-silly-movie-yep-thats-all-spoilers/451305/1 "2008-05-31T22:52:22Z")
I saw [Apocalypto](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472043/) and yes it is expensive and everybody’s talking some native language etcetera, and it seems real enough everything. Hooray and exiting. However, there’re some major problems with Gibson’s movie: While well made, the director plays on cheap strings here: Abandoned children, raped women, humiliated men. While watching, being admitedly disturbed, I found myself asking: Why am I exposed to this, what is the movie trying to tell? Granted there’s no value of and in itself of watching a movie with actors acting tortured, why wade through this when the story itself is so shallow and uninteresting? Aside of some really dumb scenes and a couple of not too trustworthy characters, the main problem is the bad story. If it wasn’t for the violence nobody would care. The film maker seems to have nothing to tell. The moment the protagonist hides his family (pregnant wife, cute little kid with her) in a cave - or, in the biggest hole you ever saw a few yards from the village… go figure - you get the feeling this is but another dumb American action movie you have to sit through… Set in the jungle, though. Of course, when the hero is close to help his family out of the hole in the end, being _oh my god!_ hunted by evil mayans… … … it starts to rain… … … and the hole fills up… and the pregnant woman with the cute kid may drown… … … and she starts to deliver… … … Jesus. I don’t know how it ends, because the silliness of this moron movie went through the roof about here and finally I flipped the channel. That’s all. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypto-is-a-silly-movie-yep-thats-all-spoilers/451305/2 "2008-05-31T22:59:19Z")
It kept me interested and entertained all the way through. I don’t care much for Mel Gibson but I liked the movie quite a bit as an escapist-action-chase thriller set in a time and place not often seen in movies. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypto-is-a-silly-movie-yep-thats-all-spoilers/451305/3 "2008-05-31T23:20:15Z")
I [agree](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=421532&highlight=apocalypto). ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypto-is-a-silly-movie-yep-thats-all-spoilers/451305/4 "2008-05-31T23:27:07Z")
[Previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=398766). I think there were others. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypto-is-a-silly-movie-yep-thats-all-spoilers/451305/5 "2008-06-01T00:27:32Z")
I thought it was pretty good. Just because the plot was thin doesn’t stop the rest of it being entertaining. And stylistically I found it very impressive. It’s not one I’d seek out to watch again, but the same can be said of many Oscar winners, so that’s certainly no count against it. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypto-is-a-silly-movie-yep-thats-all-spoilers/451305/6 "2008-06-01T00:48:28Z")
> [@](#): > > you get the feeling this is but another dumb American action movie you have to sit through :dubious: Somebody was holding a gun to your head, skippy? What was preventing you from turning it off or walking out? ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Cream\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ice\_Cream\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Cream_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apocalypto-is-a-silly-movie-yep-thats-all-spoilers/451305/7 "2008-06-01T02:23:06Z")
[QUOTE=Scumpup] :dubious: Somebody was holding a gun to your head, skippy? What was preventing you from turning it off or walking out? [/QUOTE] He did! [QUOTE=Wakinyan] I don’t know how it ends, because the silliness of this moron movie went through the roof about here and finally I flipped the channel. [/QUOTE]