Apocalypto: Film: C Extras: D

"Apocalypto" has the makings of an epic movie, but there is one crucial aspect missing from it. Unfortunately, the movie fails to humanize its characters, making it hard to identify with them. The scenery is beautiful, the costumes are amazing, the sets are lifelike and the action is thrilling, but that was not enough to carry me through the violence and gore. \nWriter/director Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto" focuses on the fate of a Mayan man named Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) who is captured after his small forest village is invaded. He and other villagers are bound and taken to a large city where some are sold into slavery, others are sacrificed -- in a scene complete with heart removal and decapitation -- and still others are forced into a deadly cat-and-mouse game, with freedom as the prize for an unlikely win.\nJaguar Paw's perilous journey home to save his pregnant wife and young son is filled with moments that require a willing suspension of disbelief on the part of the viewer (this apparent superman can outrun a jaguar and kill 10 men while bleeding from the abdomen).\nWhile these elements are engaging, they confound the point that the film is intending to get across -- that large societies are breeding grounds for violence and the disruption of peaceful, simple living. Because Gibson only spends 23 minutes initially establishing the character who is supposed to humanize this primitive society, the movie's violence and mythological elements throw it off balance.\nIn addition, I was hoping the bonus features would provide insight into what Gibson was intending to say with the movie, but the commentary is mostly self-congratulatory remarks about his ability as a filmmaker. The only other bonuses are one deleted scene and a "making of" featurette that mainly focuses on how all the extras were corralled, costumed and made up.\nTo make the most out of this movie, watch it on a big screen with surround sound and expect a visceral experience without much of an actual story.