In this week's edition of Blurb Racket—the Gelf feature in which we take a close look at those critic blurbs that are a fixture of ads for movies—see breakdowns of blurbs for The Nativity Story, Eragon, Blood Diamond, and more. This week's Bogus Blurb of the Week comes in an ad for Apocalypto:
 Paul Antonson |
Acutal line: "Once you get past the costumes and the subtitles, though, the most striking thing about Apocalypto is how comfortably it sits within the conventions of mainstream moviemaking. It is not an obsessive opera like Mr. Herzog's Aguirre: The Wrath of God, but rather a pop period epic in the manner of Gladiator or Braveheart, and as such less interested in historical or cultural authenticity than in imposing an accessible scheme on a faraway time and place."
Not quoted: "Which is not to say that Apocalypto is a great film, or even that it can be taken quite as seriously as it wants to be."
Scott's use of the term "pop period epic" is not an ode to the movie's greatness. In fact, he seems to be saying that, despite the subtitles, Apocalypto just isn't as different from other action movies as it pretends to be. For that twisting of words, this ad wins Gelf's Bogus Blurb of the Week award. As Gelf noted earlier, the most memorable aspect of the movie to most reviewers seems to be the gore.
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