In honor of the Apocalypse just past, my mother asked I take a look at Mel Gibson’s follow-up to The Passion. Otherwise I would’ve continued ignoring Gibson’s work, same as I ignore the work of most modern neo-Nazis. Even before his July 28, 2006 drunk driving arrest (and subsequent tirade against the “Fucking Jews”), I was well on my way to hating Mel and everything he represented. Afterward, he caused my feelings to calcify by joining the long line of celebrities forced to pay respects to the Great God Contrition. Because it’s not enough to spend multiple twenty-four-hour news cycles airing a celebrity’s dirty laundry – nowadays that celebrity must appear before one of the High Priests of the Interview (Diane Sawyer, in Gibson’s case) to publicly claim the laundry’s theirs, and that they’re sorry. Even when they aren’t. Especially when they aren’t. Look at O.J. Simpson. Or look at Mel, already blaming the alcohol for his foul mouth and lack of self-control.

 “Even a couple of drinks, you know, you lose all humility, all … everything, and you just become a braggart and a blowhard.”

No, Mel, you “lose all humanity” and “become a braggart and a blowhard” after “even a couple of drinks, you know…” Some of us learn how to handle our shit when we’re out in public…even if we aren’t aging action heroes/heartthrobs with four  Lethal Weapons to our name and a paparazzi army digging through our trash. Continue reading Apocalypto (2006) →