Apocalypto (2006)

Awesome film! Visually stunning, adrenaline-pumping, slightly less graphic than The Passion of the Christ and 300 for yick or splut factor. For panoramic views, cinematography, scriptwriting, linguistics, sound editing, film editing, set construction, costuming, and makeup -- not to forget action -- this story rocks! It's a gripping narrative arc that kept me writhing on the edge of my seat. Those that complained it's a racist movie are off their feed; I would worry about Mel Gibson's gore fetish though. As to the Mesoamerican history academic who complained it's not 100% historically accurate and conflated several cultural trends, hm, well, Hollywood has never done that before, have they? Hey, I'm a Tolkien scholar and Lord of the Rings didn't follow the book verbatim either. The forced-march and Mayan temple scenes are captivating for their beauty and attention to detail as well as their brutality. See this movie for the action and suspense -- you really care about the characters -- which is doubly amazing, since its script is written entirely in a Mayan tongue. (Cool!) 5 stars.