Act III is (literally) a 40-minute foot chase through the unkind wilds of ancient Mexico.

I've learned that both Time and Newsweek want to put Mel Gibson's Apocalpto on their covers timed to its Dec. 8th opening. This happened with Gibson's The Passion of the Christ: Newsweek made it the cover before the film's release, and Time after the movie was in theaters. It's quite a coup for any Hollywood pic to make the covers of both newsmagazines. "There are a lot of media offers on the table competing for this movie," an insider told me. This may happen without any actual interview of Gibson, too. Any interview would be problematic for Mel's publicity push since it would necessarily dwell on Gibson's alcoholism relapse and drunken rantings against Jews. Because of that, it's still up in the air if there'll be a big network (or even cable) TV one-on-one. But the real issue, now that the Disney movie is starting to garner raves from its sneak screenings, is whether Oscar voters can, or will, judge Mel's film fairly. Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are known to hold grudges for a myriad reasons, and Gibson's anti-Semitic remarks over the summer provide ample fuel. Then again, the voters are supposed to judge the merits of the film and not the man behind it. The question is: can that be possible? I certainly don't have an answer yet since it's too early in the process -- most voters won't even start seeing the film until December -- but I can look to the past. After all, they ignored Gibson's Passion for the big noms (Best Actor, Best Director, Best Picture) because of the anti-Semitic overtones some saw in its portrayal of the events surrounding the death of Jesus. And, last year, I reported that hetero Oscar voters were unwilling to screen Brokeback Mountain because of their own anti-gay prejudices. But Mel's film is becoming known as the 'Mexican Braveheart' -- and everyone knows Braveheart won a ton of Oscars. Meanwhile, I'm told that Gibson's alcoholism rehab is going well.

Following up on the Sept. 15th release of the movie's first trailer, Gibson went to the Southwest this weekend to personally host sneak screenings of his forthcoming Apocalypto to Native-American groups in Oklahoma and Texas (as well as to Ain't-It-Cool-News.com's Harry Knowles in Austin). First, Gibson went to Oklahoma, because I'm told that's where the Native-American lead of his film hails from. Rudy Youngblood, the newcomer who plays Jaguar Paw, is a Comanche-Cree-Yaqui Indian who lived near Ada, Ok., before moving to Los Angeles last year to try his hand at acting. Four months later, he was cast by Gibson in Apocalypto's lead role. (I'm told that, as part of Youngblood's audition, he had to run around the conference room where Gibson was casting -- because the last part of the movie is an edge-of-your-seat foot chase through the rain forest.) "Mel was supporting his lead actor. This was a bigger thing going on than the movie," an insider told me. So Gibson travelled to Goldsby, OK, on Friday for screenings for several dozen people, mostly American Indian, including officials of the Chickasaw Nations Industry. Some screenings were held at the Riverwind Casino south of Norman, OK, and some at Camerican University in Lawton, OK. Gibson wore a mask and wig to enter the campus building without being noticed. According to media reports, the action/adventure thriller set in the last days of the Mayan civilization in Mexico, was well received in Oklahoma.

So, too, in Austin, Texas, where the film was presented Saturday as part of Fantastic Fest 2006 with Gibson and Youngblood in attendance. Just prior to that, Gibson held a private screening for Harry Knowles and for the Native American Pow Wow Association of Austin. Though not quite finished -- some visual effects and sound design aren't in place -- Apocalypto is "a film of immense power [that] unfolds unflinchingly," Knowles reviews. "The Native Americans gathered at this screening seemed to love it. What I saw today was a very rough jewel, when I see it again, I trust I will see an immaculate jewel. This could very well be the best film Mel has made when he's done with it." The film received a standing ovation from the Fantastic Fest audience. In a Q-and-A after the private screening, one member of the native American audience asked Gibson if the movie was saying that the decay of the Mayan empire was solely from within (rather than from the influence of European invaders). Gibson replied that he has always felt that the seeds for different civilizations' demise always start from within, as a healthy society can repel any foreign invader. "He does see the film as a metaphor for where we are today," Knowles posted.

I LOVED THIS FILM!!! I'm not a Mel Gibson apologist, nor even a fan. I refuse to see Passion of the Christ, because of the subject matter, and I have to admit I had no plans to see Apocalypto. Before tonight, I would not have paid money to see this film, but now, I'm so glad I got to see it. It was a surreal experience to be in one of the first audiences to see Apocalypto in any form, with the director and star sitting directly in front of me where I could have kicked them, or passed them a note, but that did not color my impression of the movie, itself. I enjoyed every minute that audiences will see in the theater, as well as those that will be cut.

As the Q&A began, I honestly couldn't think of anything to criticize worth mentioning. Apocalypto is violent, extremely so, in fact, but the violence is central to the story being told. It is not gratuitous; it doesn't exist just to make you feel emotions for the characters. The violence seems to me to be presented simply as "This is what happened. People really did these things to each other. Here's how, and why." This film is a work of art, and as such, it is amazingly beautiful. It doesn't deliberately try to jerk your emotional chain, but you can't help but feel the characters' pain.

The quote at the beginning about a society being destroyed from within before being destroyed from without didn't ring quite true to me, however. I'm sure this was meant to be a commentary on the religious practices of the Mayans assisting in the destruction of their society by Europeans. Unfortunately, the film begins with a counter-example as the healthy/successful village of hunter-gatherers is razed by the invading agricultural city-dwellers. I think a quote more appropriate to the action of the film would be "A thousand throats may be cut in a single night by a running man."

Newcomer Rudy Youngblood deserves special recognition. This was a demanding role, physically and emotionally. With his devastating good looks and acting talent, he is sure to have a promising career in Hollywood. I only hope that he and this film are judged fairly in light of Gibson's recent bad press. That is going to be hard to shake, but there are thousands of people besides Mel Gibson who labored to create Apocalypto. They were working on the film for years before his arrest, and they should not have to pay for his indiscretion. Should Mel Gibson read this, I would like to say to him: This is your finest work to date. Thank you for sharing it with us, and please keep making films as worthy as this.

Of course the next film of the night was the super secret, super exciting AICN screening. The rumor mill had been buzzing all day about what it might be, and one of the front-runners was APOCALYPTO...and that it was.

This is basically a warrior's tale, one that would be told around Mayan campfires. It's a man beating all odds of survival to get back to his wife and children after he's been kidnapped along with the rest of the adults in his village. But he is the one who still has a true drive to return, as he hid his family when the village was overtaken.

The film is stunningly gorgeous, even in its unfinished state. In December it should be a true spectacle to behold. And even though no one in the film had any acting experience, they were all amazing. By that I seriously mean that each and every actor was wonderful. And for a complete non-actor to carry this story is saying something. I was quite impressed.

One problem I had with the film was that the main character, Jaguar Paw, does nothing to forward his story along until the third act. He survives on sheer luck and coincidence, and that kinda drives me nuts. Now, when he does start to take control it's amazing, but waiting for the end of the film for that to happen gets a bit much for me.

Another issue I had with the film is the quotation at the beginning which says something to the effect that a civilization cannot be destroyed from the outside until it starts to destroy itself from within. This had absolutely NOTHING to do with Jaguar Paw's story. To me it just feels like it's saying that the people in the ships (arriving at the end of the film) had nothing to do with the downfall of the Mayan Empire. It was all the Mayans' fault for getting "too big for their britches." While I do feel that there is indeed merit to the quotation, I don't think it was appropriate for this tale. And then when it's factored in that "apocalypto" means "a new beginning" in Greek, I kinda get an uneasy feeling. I'm just not sure that we can point the finger at the Mayan's for being responsible for their complete downfall, especially since there have been other nations who have been "knocked down to size" and survived their enormous egos. It's a touchy subject.

But then Mel said he really wanted to mostly entertain. I think people will be entertained by this, so he succeeded there. To be honest, all I could think during most of the Q&A was that Martin Riggs was sitting right there in front of me. Even the way he tried to "entertain" the crowd by being goofy screamed Riggs to me. And that made ME happy enough.

Go see APOCALYPTO in December when it hits theaters. It is indeed a beautiful piece of entertainment. And I'll be hoping that at least new actor Rudy Youngblood gets an Oscar nod. It should be interesting.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/30170

I'd be lying if I said the way he described the film and how geeked out positive he is about it didnt raise my interest in the film.

2 more positive (glowing) reviews appeared on AICN:

That actually sounds like utter tripe. That's what people said about Braveheart too, and its the sign of directors and critcis who haven't read books on the subject past the middle-school level.

Yeah, whatever...

I go to movies to be entertained, not to be educated.

braveheart rocked!

Yeah, whatever...

I go to movies to be entertained, not to be educated.

braveheart is to guys what a lot of emotional sappy films are for women.

braveheart is to guys what a lot of emotional sappy films are for women.

Right, which is why I find it funny the critic treated it like a history lesson. Like I said, it should have just been marketted as an ooga booga movie, not "This is how it really was like." The former is about entertainment, the latter is, in fact, pretending to be educational.

I would have almost preferred if the critic had just said "Dude, the slashing scenes were f****** awesome!" Or something like that. But if there's nothing I've learned from the past few Gibson movies, is that he does these things intending for them to be taken seriously, and that for some ridiculous reason, audiences do.