2. Jaguar Paw Apocalypto
Ive seen many films in my life, but nothing quite shocked me as much as Jaguar Paws transformation into awesomeness while on the run from people who really, really wanted to bash his head in. Watching him turn the tables on his pursuers was an excellent, empowering way to spend the final act of the film precisely because wed spent the best part of an hour and a half going through a magical mystery tour of just how many bad things could happen to a man in pre-conquistador America. We had plague, heart-plucking, slavery, family murders, all the big ones, and it didnt help that the man had the biggest tool on the continent nipping at his heels all the way to the city. You almost felt sorry for him. Yet you shouldnt have the film had always hinted throughout that Jaguar Paw was a formidable operator, hiding his wife and son in the first act before holding his own in the upcoming fight against the eventually-victorious raiders. Even after he escapes the one-sided gauntlet he is forced to run as a captive, you might imagine that hes running off sheer dumb luck alone. After all, he hasn't really shown true skill so far all his effective manoueveres have been born of panicky determination and desperate attacks. But after he makes it down the waterfall and back onto home turf you see what a badass he is. Hes literally jungle Macgyver, using nought but traps, frogs and beehives to successfully takes down seven better equipped men after what seemed like endless hours of beatings and cruelty. It's only when he re-emerges from the bog covered in mud that you realise he might have a chance, and when that tapir trap smacks into their leader, its such a cathartic moment that you might just jump out of your seat and punch the air to praise Quetzalcoatl or whomever. It pains me to say it, but a lot of the credit lies at director and noted madman Mel Gibsons door. While hes an extremely controversial figure in real life, you cant deny he had a real flair for visceral, violent film-making, and to finally see this used in the good guys favour is a great payoff to an already-phenomenal film.