Word: blood
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Last week, Mel Gibson’s latest gore-fest “Apocalypto” opened alongside “Blood Diamond,” the violent liberal ego-stroker by Edward M. Zwick ’74, and movie observers pointed to a trend of serious violence in movies. David Carr, the New York Times’ so-called “Carpetbagger” (Oscar observer), wrote a column about how many movies tagged with the speculative title of “Oscar-worthy” are filled with blood...
...while “Casino Royale” leaves most Bond films in the dust. But neither of these films is so good because of its violence. Indeed, the best action scene in “Casino Royale” is a beginning chase scene with practically no blood; “The Departed” works because of terrific acting by Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, and (especially) Leonardo DiCaprio...
...blood in “The Departed” actually weakens the better scenes in which tension is created through the threat of violence, not its execution. Nicholson’s best scene is a conversation with the duplicitous DiCaprio where the audience thinks that Jack might put a bullet through Leo’s pretty head no less than three times. When Scorsese indulges in splatters of blood similar to those that drowned “Gangs of New York,” I wished that the characters would stop shooting and start talking again...
...Miami runway has anything to do with plot or character development. This is disappointing—it holds “Casino Royale” back from being one of the greatest Bond films ever—but not horribly so. In other films where the interstitial space between blood splatters is less captivating, it’s crushing...
...Apocalypto,” Mel Gibson doesn’t try to persuade you to care about the fall of the Mayan empire. He’s more interested in painting the last bit of blood on that recently eviscerated human heart. The violence in “Apocalypto” seems obscene because Gibson does nothing to justify or contextualize it. The main character (Jaguar Paw, played by Rudy Youngblood) is motivated largely by the fear of having his skin peeled off, literally...