delivers. Mostly because, despite its attempts to convey something akin to reality, the film is essentially a 90-minute buildup to a 45-minute chase sequence. It’s glorious.
No matter, the side plot is still effective. Seven must endure her own hardships — monkeys, rain, birth — which are enough to hold our attention any time we cut away from Jaguar Paw’s journey. Gibson uses the journey as a tool to show off advancements in civilization — though, ironically, the closer the group gets to modern society, the more violent the world becomes. At one point, Zero Wolf nearly gets squashed by a falling tree and he shouts at the Mayan “lumberjacks” “I’m walking here!” Later, the group bumps into a young girl with smallpox , who seeks their help but is quickly pushed away.
After running all through the night, Jaguar Paw arrives at a massive waterfall resulting in one of the most amazing shots of the entire film. It’s not digital, either. The camera starts over the actor’s shoulder and soars all the way to the bottom of the falls so that we get a true sense of the magnitude of Jaguar Paw’s situation.