SummaryA heart stopping mythic action-adventure set against the turbulent end times of the once great Mayan civilization. (Touchstone)
Directed By:Mel Gibson
Written By:Mel Gibson, Farhad Safinia
Apocalypto
Metascore
Generally Favorable
68
User score
Generally Favorable
8.0
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
62% Positive
23 Reviews
23 Reviews
32% Mixed
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
5% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
100
The production design is superb, and the actors deliver their dialogue in subtitled Yucatecan Maya, but despite all the anthropological drag, this is really just a crackerjack Saturday-afternoon serial.
88
The heart of the matter - and the viscera - is the action, and one man's determination to survive. Apocalypto is primal.
User score
Generally Favorable
86% Positive
258 Ratings
258 Ratings
12% Mixed
36 Ratings
36 Ratings
2% Negative
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
Jul 3, 2025
10
Gibsons´ best peace. From the first moment it takes you with on a journey of mystic ancient culture in a hard and merciless time of our early worlds history. Exciting and disturbing brutally at the same time. There´s no complex and twisted story and you don´t need to know much about ancient history. There´s just a startpoint and an endpoint of a straight storyline. I like that.
Dec 16, 2024
10
Really good pacing, really good story line. The movie felt genuine, actors picked looked like the people they were supposed to portray and they spoke a native aztec language. It was very easy to be immersed in the movie.
80
Apocalypto turns into the best "Rambo" movie ever made. The worrisome part is that Gibson doesn't think he's making a boneheaded action picture. For him, torture and vengeance are the way of the world. This is Gibsonian metaphysics.
75
Say what you will about Gibson, but he's a genuine filmmaker, and Apocalypto gallops along the thin line between the deluded and the inspired with such conviction that you're yanked into its wake.
60
Neither Mr. Gibson’s fans nor his detractors are likely to accuse him of excessive subtlety, and the effectiveness of Apocalypto is inseparable from its crudity. But the blunt characterizations and the emphatic emotional cues are also evidence of the director’s skill.
50
Numerous good things can be said about Apocalypto, the director's foray into the decaying Mayan civilization of the early 1500s, but every last one of them is overshadowed by Gibson's well-established penchant for depictions of stupendous amounts of violence.
38
The movie is so impressionistic, it obfuscates any sense of history. We expect at least a hint at the causes of the Mayan Empire's demise, but instead we get Mesoamerican Rambo.
Feb 28, 2024
10
To hell with the critics they are all puppets anyways. When it comes to this and Mel Gibsons other movies don't listen to the media. Just watch them they are some of the best movies you'll ever see.
Jun 6, 2015
6
A reasonably good effort here from Gibson, the film is set in Central American Mayan culture and offers some impressive visuals at times that can really transport you back to the films time. The film was enjoyable and entertaining to watch but it failed to fully grasp at an engaging story line set in this time period: it felt like Gibson was more interested in having a film showcase some aspects of Mayan culture rather than wrapping a full story line into it. The first section of the film seems to have a lack of focus, and the film also introduces certain elements into the film but refuses to continue with them. Once arriving at the Mayan city the film does focus more on one plot point, but it is not an exceedingly interesting one. The film also brought an odd mixture of realism and stylistically orientated scenes that felt odd but intriguing to watch. Also, well done for Gibson actually making the effort to not make the Mayans some how speak English. The acting is very hit and miss also, with some scenes feeling overly cheesy and others feeling very forced by the actors, yet it does capture the brutality and savagery of the time period. An enjoyable watch mainly for the sight of a fully realised Mayan culture put to screen but not for an engaging plot or acting. 6.5/10
Jun 2, 2013
6
Very good film by Mel Gibson. Good story, but even better action. I absolutely loved the fighting scenes and the chase scenes in particular. The last thirty minutes were so intense. A great movie despite the few historical inaccuracies. I really enjoyed it.
Dec 15, 2011
6
I enjoyed it. Thought it was a decent film but it felt a little too dragged on and it made me lose interest in the film. While it was solid through out, It just wasnt great.
Jul 15, 2011
0
I know now why the Mayans went extinct. They were nothing but a bunch of wild, bloodthirsty animals. Praise the Lord, or the Spanish, for bringing some civilization to that part of the world. The Arab world with their death cult and suicide bombings and their medieval superstitions is next, the last realm of barbarism.
Production Company:
- Icon Productions
- Mayan Ruins
- Touchstone Pictures
Release Date:Dec 8, 2006
Duration:2 h 19 m
Rating:R
Tagline:When the end comes, not everyone is ready to go
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 3 Nominations
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Nomination
Imagen Foundation Awards
• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations
