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... and two hours later, my review is ....
Meh.
Not as in Mehl. Just meh. Nothing great, nothing terrible. A decent enough actioner in a very unusual setting. I guess I should give it points for keeping my interest as a foreign language film (I don't usually do well with subtitles).
I think many reviewers are giving it a bum rap as to blood and gore. I didn't find any of the bloodletting gratuitous. In fact, during plot-necessary scenes of human sacrifice, the action and lensing were staged to specifically avoid showing the gory stuff.
The lead actor who played Jaguar Paw was very effective, and the story was interesting. But it just didn't grab me all that much. Without spoiling too much, it's a tale of capture and escape and comeuppance ... and there was so much hard-hitting stuff that I felt should have hit me harder ... but somehow didn't.
The mid-section of the film was at once the most interesting and most irritaing part. As our hero is led through the Mayan suburbs and city, we get fascinating and visually breathtaking views of the culture and society ... but the characters move through all this like it's a theme park ride, and that's a tactic I hate.
If there was some kind of analogy about the decay of Mayan civilization to our own, it was not played out specifically. But I feel that's where the film was strongest. All in all though, not the bravura stupendousness that I'd hoped for. And certainly not the sadistic twist-fest that some have wrongly railed against.
No gaybashing or jewbaiting either, GC. But yeah, the Maya did not come off well. Maybe they'll be the next subject of Mel's DUI ranting.
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