This is what I wrote when I saw Apocalypto at the cinema:

Gibson's films are all seemingly based around the notion of life as freedom and death as slavery…or something like that. In order to show what is at stake in terms of freedom, in terms of life, he makes his films as gory as possible, so that when a character dies, he does not leave the world peacefully, but has his heart ripped out by an evil savage. For Apocalypto, Gibson has toned down the slow-motion that killed Passion and is more interested in getting one with events. If the events themselves are ludicrous, and we don't really care for any of these horrid people, then at least it has its moments of noteworthy action (the chase scenes through the forest are wonderful). And the scene in the middle of the movie, at the Mayan temple, shot in large amounts of dusty, sandy yellows and bright reds, with the captives being escorted to the top of the temple itself painted in blue, is absurd, pretty and frightening.