I thought about not wasting my time with a comment about this movie but after thinking about it somemore I decided it was necessary.

I liked the movie but as history and cultural comment it is worthless; all it is, is "Lethal Weapon In Loin Clothes." It isn't even worth most of the debate here.

I liked it because I enjoy the eye candy of period costume reasonably well done and I like action genre even when it is hard to suspend disbelief but the history is wrong, the details vapid, and the cultures conflated to meaningless. As for social comment it is just another Hollywood exploitation of sensationalist aspects of the period. Nothing new here folks.

The history is simply wrong, first of all the Maya that met Cortes were predominantly the forest dwellers and fisher folk, not urban because the great cities of the Maya had been in ruin for most of 500 years already by the time he arrived. Only token survivors lived among the broken stones and buildings.

Second, and this one stuck out for me like a sore thumb, and should to anyone that fancies them self a student of Maya cosmology; a solar eclipse can only occur on the New Moon, there is no way the moon could have risen on the same night as a solar eclipse by day. Also one of the astronmomical things that the Maya were quite certain of, is when they were going to happen; so they would be the last people surprised by such an event.

Third, while there may be a stereotyped commentary on the difference between urban and rural culture, I suggest that you don't read too much into that either. It was the Aztecs that hunted the forest tribes in *flowery wars* the peoples for ritual sacriufice. The Maya fought city state battles more like the Greeks and they didn't generally hold mass sacrifices (though some did occur) but tended to have more significant ritual ones associated with calender events such as the period to synchronize their solar and lunar calendars. They did take slaves and hostages but they also would free some for ransom of crops and other things. Their city states were often fighting among one another. They, like the Greeks, were united in religion and language (culture) but not politics.

In general the costumes were accurate, which is fun to see but the misuse of the ball courts for example, for a type of game that never transpired for these people, is simply a Western prejudice expressed in cliche. All in all this movie rates a F on history, a C on effort, a C+ on overall design and a D on cultural analysis and plot. If you want to see a fast paced remake of the modern action epic set in Mesoamerica then go for it but otherwise don't expect too much. The plot, theme, and background are full of gaping holes, not just ritual piercings.

Oh if you don't believe me then go watch it for yourself.
www.peekvid.com/feature/mo...alypto.html