This movie was so great to watch. The costumes, makeup and art direction should all get Academy Award® nods for sure. It may not get any picture or director recognition, but I would consider it an Academy snub if it doesn’t get notice for its production design.

Youngblood does very well. Even in another language, it is easy to see what his character has going on inside at pretty much any given time. There were a couple other standouts in the cast as well.

What keeps the viewership of this picture exclusive is its brutality. It’s kind of on par with the violence Gibson had in “Braveheart,” but it a little moreso. It’s not as brutal as “Passion of the Christ” however. There are a lot of heavy violent images to deal with in this picture.

The plot is pretty exciting and its points of conflict were great. The picture is entirely subtitled, so if you don’t like reading your movies, don’t see it. There were also a couple of colloquialisms in the translation with stuck out and seemed out of place.

There was a jaguar attack in the picture which really looked horrible. It was like the freakin’ muppet show. It was about a realistic as the cougar attack in “Talladega Nights,” which was purely for comedic effect. This one did not live up to “Apocalypto” as a visual powerhouse. It took me out of the movie, at least for that scene.

Overall, I say this picture isn’t for the squeamish, but it is very good and entertaining. Don’t take the Mayan history of it too seriously. Even Gibson has said it’s most based on fiction. The production design is worth seeing in the cinemas alone.