I didn't catch this at the cinema, watched it on DVD last night - and I thought it was brilliant. Seriously. I'd had my eye on it, read all the reviews - a weakness* - now having seen it, I'm frankly baffled by the faint praise that many have seen fit to heap upon it. It was expertly realised, entirely convincing, passionate, intelligent. One common carp is that it is somehow shallow. I entirely disagree. I think they'd really done their research, and the story was consistent with the mythology of the time and mythologising of battle and survival in general. I liked it that luck played a part in Jaguar Paw's endeavours. That's what a lot of the great stories are based on, why they came about, as it were. And the idea of the "natural man" versus "corrupt city man" is as timeless as it gets. The civilised world may not commit ritual human sacrifice, but it is hypnotised by spectacle. Anyhow, enough waffling. This is more than anything else a superb example of balls-to-the-wall film-making that we rarely see nowadays, or ever, come to think of it. Anyone who disagrees should have their head chopped off and thrown down a long flight of steps. Excelsior! *The Guardian reviewers are spot on, I think: http://film.guardian.co.uk/Film_Page/0,,-116577,00.html