KEY POINTS:
Herald rating: 4/5
You could, as Apocalypto unfolds a depiction of pre-European Mayan life, spend a lot of time ticking off the Mel Gibson-isms as they arrive, mostly kicking and screaming.
There's the inevitable bloodlust and madness, the torture of semi-clad men, the humour which runs to testicular
fortitude, mother-in-law gags and movie in-jokes - and that's not counting the sister city comparison between the Mayan city here and Bartertown of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
Like some of Gibson's previous films, Apocalypto also comes with a man driven to his limits trying to save his family.
Like his last hit historic epic, it comes with subtitles for obscure ancient languages, the carrying of large bits of wood to a sacrificial altar and a hero who gets a spear in the side and carries on regardless. Heck, the poor chaps lined up to appease the gods with the loss of their heads get a coat of bodypaint which just might be "Braveheart blue" on the colour chart.
Yes, that it says Mel Gibson's Apocalypto on the poster is as much a warning to the sensitive as the censor rating.
But as unsettling as much of it can be, as dubious an actual history lesson it certainly is (complete with simple-minded hypothesis about the collapse of the Mayan civilisation and its parallels to today), Apocalypto is still one wildly exciting ride.
Having convinced us of its ethnographical bona fides in its first half, complete with gory interlude in town, it turns into a breathless jungle-chase film in the second as Jaguar Paw (Youngblood in a captivating lead performance) attempts to escape those who ravaged his village and kidnapped him so he can rescue his pregnant wife and child.
If that's where Apocalypto turns from something novel to something conventional, its sense of pace and inventive action keep it fiercely thrilling right up until its Big Surprise Prophetic Ending.
Those closing scenes are a poetic touch, even if they - like the pre-credit opening quote: "A great civilisation is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within" - feel like attempts to make the film live up to its portentous title.
But for the most part, Apocalypto is just a bloody great thriller set against a fascinating and vividly rendered ancient world.
Obviously, that Gibson fellow has some funny ideas which can make us look askance at his movies.
But in Apocalypto they don't get in the way of telling a simple exhilarating story in a film that is often gory but never boring.
Cast: Rudy Youngblood, Raoul Trujillo Dalia Hernandez
Director: Mel Gibson
Rating: R16, graphic violence
Running time: 140 mins (subtitled)
Screening: SkyCity, Hoyts, Berkeley cinemas
Verdict: Mad Mel does his level best to put the "yuck" into Yucatan on bloody impressive Mayan thriller
