Review: Apocalypto

UK release date: 5th January

At first sight, writer/director Mel Gibson’s Mayan epic seems intimidating. It’s 140 minutes long, has subtitled Yucatan dialogue and is set in pre-Spanish Mexico. Yet despite appearances it’s no pretentious arthouse film but a thrilling chase movie in which Mayan warrior Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) is pursued through the jungle by a vicious rival tribe eager to use him as a blood sacrifice.

Stocking up on sadistic violence, Gibson matches The Passion of the Christ‘s bloodsoaked tableaux with a catalogue of astonishingly gory beheadings and impalements, all set against the forbidding backdrop of Mayan pyramids and lush tropical undergrowth. He directs the set pieces with style, creating an exciting, exhausting action adventure that’s like a strangely compelling hybrid of Mayan mythology, 1980s video nasty Cannibal Holocaust and Tarzan.

Radio Times rating:

****

UK cinema certificate 18
Running time 138mins

Review by Jamie Russell

Review: Deja Vu

UK release date: 15th December

Denzel Washington reteams with his Crimson Tide and Man on Fire director Tony Scott for this sci-fi thriller about manipulating the past to save lives in the future.

Washington plays Doug Carlin, a New Orleans federal agent investigating a huge bombing, who is given access to a top-secret government “time window” that lets him see into the past. He then tries to solve the crime, and also prevent it from ever happening.

The screenplay provides some provocative commentary on surveillance, home-grown terrorism and the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive strikes, but Scott is far more interested in crash, bang, wallop pyrotechnics — in particular, a freeway car chase that occurs simultaneously in both the past and the present.

This is a gloriously dumb thriller that occasionally teases with some serious themes, but doesn’t quite follow them through.

Radio Times rating:

***

UK cinema certificate 12A
Running time 126mins

Review by Jamie Russell

Review: The Guardian

UK Release: 13th October 2006

This corny but thrilling action adventure is further proof that Kevin Costner is getting better with age. He plays Ben Randall, an ace US Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer who’s transferred to a training facility after being involved in a tragedy at sea that left his crew dead. Among the students he’s assigned is cocky Jake Fischer (Ashton Kutcher), a young hostshot who has the ability if not the attitude to take Randall’s crown.

If this was a western, Costner would be the old gunslinger and Kutcher the quick-draw kid who wants to take him down. Clichés aside, the film’s storm-rescue sequences are outstanding and Costner demonstrates how an action hero can age gracefully. Sure, the film is a tad too long, and the quasi-mythic elements are a bit silly. Otherwise, this is a guilty pleasure.

Radio Times rating:

***

UK cinema certificate 12A
Running time 138mins

Review by David Aldridge

Review: New Police Story

UK Release: 13th October 2006

Technically, this isn’t a sequel to Jackie Chan’s original Police Story movies, but it still counts as a satisfactory return to his Hong Kong roots.

He plays a veteran cop who descends into alcoholic self-pity after his unit is wiped out by some extreme-sports-loving, hi-tech thieves. However, a persistent young man (Nicholas Tse) posing as his new partner eventually raises him from his stupor and together they set out to track down the gang.

At times, this thriller may be a little too melodramatic for its own good, but after the lightweight fluff Chan gets stuck with in Hollywood, that actually makes a pleasant change. Chan and director Benny Chan execute some nifty action set pieces, Tse makes for a good foil for the star and Daniel Wu excels as the disturbed young gang leader. Not vintage Chan, but certainly his best for some while.

Radio Times rating:

***

UK cinema certificate 15
Running time 122mins

Review by John Ferguson