"That's a bit harsh. no? I've heard that same thing from many who otherwise liked the film. My guess is that Gibson wanted to push that aspect (the violence - both intensity and timewise) because our culture is so overly bombarded by violence on the screen today. If he'd played the violence down, it would have lessened the impact for many people." jack70

i meant to direct this at the crtiques i have read that were negative of the film and one main reason cited, was the violence. Ebert said it was the most violent film he had ever seen, but also gave it 4 stars. It is extremely violent, but it is not "overly" violent, imo.