Beautiful, moving film.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

On Easter Island, the tribes are in a ritualized competition. Every year, each tribe sends a warrior to the Birdman competition to see who will rule the island. Noro (Jason Scott Lee) comes from the ruling tribe 'long ears'. His clueless grandfather chief and his ruthless priest demand larger Moai. He is in love with Ramana (Sandrine Holt) from the tribe 'short ears'. His long time friend Make (Esai Morales) is also in love with Ramana. The demand for Moais has eaten up the resources of the island as scarcities and ecological damage rule.The problem for this movie is the foreign nature of everything. Some of it is laughable even if it's true. Writer/director Kevin Reynolds needed to be especially careful about the unintended comedy. Maybe it's an impossible task given the strange craziness. The story is a mix of Romeo and Juliet and an environmental documentary. There's none like it.

I have no wish to comment on the historical accuracy or otherwise of this film, as it is the story that held me enthralled, not the attention to fact.The first time I saw this film, I nearly had to pick my jaw up from the floor. A hollywood movie.....that doesn't spoonfeed me the plot like some overbearing nanny? An original (for a big studio) plot device? Whew, let me just sit down for a minute. Here's how it normally goes: Hero (young, handsome and likeable) must compete with rival (villanous, evil rogue) in contest of high stakes. Guess the outcome. But in this underrated gem of a story, we find two equally heroic protagonists, all thoughts of friendship lost as they are forced into a dangerous competition of courage and strength. One, fighting for the woman he loves, the other for his life. This forces the viewer to watch in an agonized state of uncertainty. Who do I want to win? Who deserves it more? What will happen to the loser? This was the first film in a long time that truly forced me to get involved with the characters, not in a cliched good versus evil kind of way, but a good versus good "how the hell are they going to get out of this one?" kind of way. Okay, so some aspects of the film do not deliver with the same power, and some of the accents do tend to waver a little, but the beautifully constructed central storyline held me until the end.

This movie is well worth the viewing if you're into period films with full frontal nudity, even if it means that Roxine Holt's breasts change their shape whenever there's a close-up. The historical fiction used by this movie try to explain the statues on Easter Island but relies too heavily on the tired theme of the incompetent leader being manipulated by overly ambitious advisors. Surely, if the people were as technologically advanced as the movie suggests, they may have transcended racism and their bizarre class structure.And yet again we see Jason Scott Lee playing the naive, young aboriginal, a part for which he has been typecast in movies like "Map of the Human Heart."If you enjoy Polynesian scenery, and have a mute button to squelch the pathetic English/Hispanic/American/Canadian accents that vary from character to character, and you can stomach the pointless love story in between graphic scenes of gratuitous frontal nudity through the efforts of beautiful body-doubles, you still won't enjoy this movie.

It must be sad to think the story or facts have anything to do with the true pleasure of watching this film. This film shines for one magic reason: Sandrine Holt, topless. I repeat, Sandrine Holt, topless. Sandrine Holt (Pocahontas, Once A Thief) is the most beautiful female on the planet and to see her cavorting topless throughout the first half of this picture (including a nice closeup of nipples as she lies on her back on the top of a hill) is pure heaven. Unfortunately Sandra spends the second half of the film unseen in a cave (was the director mad! gay! stupid!!!) For that reason I have to say I enjoyed Pocahontas more given that she's in that film more (and just as gorgeous!). My advise is to get Rapa-Nui and as soon as they stick her in the cave, rewind, and watch the first half again.