Gibson’s latest goes for the gross-out

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In theaters

APOCALYPTO, directed by Mel Gibson, written by Gibson and Farhad Safinia, 138 minutes, rated R. In Maya with English subtitles.

The new Mel Gibson movie, “Apocalypto,” isn’t so much here to entertain as it is to endure.

In large part, the film, which Gibson co-wrote with Farhad Safinia, is violent to the point of distraction – often, you find yourself pushing to get through it, happy for those moments when a head isn’t being severed, a throat isn’t being slit, a field isn’t found littered with corpses, testicles aren’t being consumed raw, or a tapir isn’t getting gored and then gutted onscreen for its meat.

Tucked within the bloodletting is a story that doesn’t have much patience for historical accuracy, though since this essentially is a chase movie, the film isn’t lacking in energy, with Dean Semler’s beautiful cinematography and James Horner’s thrumming score going a long way in enhancing the action. As such, sometimes “Apocalypto” is engrossing to watch, other times it’s just an overbearing gross-out – and there’s the crux of the movie. The results are mixed.

Told in Maya with English subtitles, the film features an unknown cast of actors who hold the screen with hypnotic ease – they’re the best part of the show. Set in the 16th century, the movie stars Rudy Youngblood as Jaguar Paw, whose tight, peaceful tribe comes under attack early in the movie by a savage group of Mayans determined to offer many of them up to the gods in an effort to quell dwindling crops and a spreading plague.

Those who are spared the grueling journey to the Mayan temples don’t get off easy – they’re savagely murdered, with Gibson’s sadistic streak fully revealing itself in these uneasy scenes of brutality, which include rape and one man twirling a shrieking newborn child around by its leg.

The two who do escape the Mayans – Jaguar Paw’s pregnant wife, Seven (Dalia Hernandez), and their son, Turtle Run (Carlos Emilio Baez) – find themselves trapped in a well. Since it’s Paw’s intention to free them before the rains come and drown them, the film’s drive is derived from how (not whether) he will escape the Mayans and get to his family before it’s too late.

Getting in the way of the film’s success isn’t just the violence, which is fetishized, but the odd, one-dimensional depiction of the Mayan people, who are viewed only as beasts, not as thinking people who formed an influential culture. Meanwhile, other scenes connect with panache, such as Paw’s final forest flight, which is a cunning ballet of one-upmanship, or his decision to leap from a towering waterfall, which is harrowing in spite of its familiarity.

In the end, though, much like Gibson himself, “Apocalypto” is so far on the fringe, there’s the temptation to overanalyze it. The trouble is, the more you do so, the less you seem to care. By eschewing subtlety and nuance in favor of shock, Gibson does disturb his audience as he intended, but by stripping away any sense of mystery from his movie, he also does it a disservice. He kneecaps it.

Grade: C

On DVD and Blu-ray

TALLEDEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY, directed by Adam McKay, written by McKay and Will Ferrell, 105 minutes, rated PG-13.

NASCAR fans should be pleased with “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” a comedy that affectionately sends up the sport.

The movie stars Will Ferrell as hillbilly Ricky Bobby, whose wayward childhood begins the film on a high note when he is born in the back seat of a racecar going 125 mph. Fast-foward several years and Ricky’s first words aren’t the usual “Mama” or “Uncle,” but the somewhat unconventional, “I wanna go fast!”

Later, still a child, he steals his mother’s car and indeed does go fast, wreaking havoc along the way, and later still we meet his deadbeat dad, the amateur tattoo artist and car racer Reese (Gary Cole), who instills in Bobby one key phrase before disappearing from his life for years: “If you ain’t first, you’re last.”

Taking that to heart, Ricky and his best friend, Cal (John C. Reilly), grow up to find work in a NASCAR pit crew, where Ricky’s pit-crew chief, Lucius (Michael Clarke Duncan), asks him to drive for the team when the lead driver bails.

In no time, Ricky becomes NASCAR’s top driver. He’s a sensation – unstoppable, unbeatable – winning race after race, marrying the first hot blonde to flash him in the stands (Leslie Bibb), and having two sons, Walker and Texas Ranger. As Ricky himself says, he’s living the American dream.

Trouble is, dreams sometimes become nightmares, which is the case when Ricky is pitted against the gifted gay French driver, Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen, otherwise known as Borat), who causes Ricky such a fall from grace, there is only one direction the movie can take – a predictable showdown between the two men at the end.

The first third is the movie at its best – it has the looseness of improvisation, the electricity of being conceived on the fly. Later, the story struggles, but director Adam McKay recovers nicely toward the end, where he and Ferrell find that their inspiration isn’t at a bar or at Applebee’s, but on the track, where so many stereotypes have come to gather – and where so many stereotypes eventually are run down by the script.

Grade: B

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays in Discovering, Fridays in Happening, and weekends in Television as well as on bangordailynews.com. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.

The Video-DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? BDN film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

Akeelah and the Bee – B+

Annapolis – C-

The Ant Bully – B+

Basic Instinct 2 – D+

Big Momma’s House 2 – D

The Break-Up – B

Brokeback Mountain – A-

Cars – C

Cheaper by the Dozen 2 – C-

Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – A

Clerks II – B+

Click – C-

The Constant Gardener – A-

Curious George – B

The Da Vinci Code – C+

Derailed – C+

The Devil Wears Prada – B+

Double Indemnity – A

ER: Complete Sixth Season – B

Failure to Launch – C-

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift – B

Freedomland – C-

Friends with Money – B

Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties – C+

A History of Violence – A

How Art Made the World – A

Inside Man – B+

Invincible – B

Junebug – A

Kinky Boots – B+

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang – B+

Last Holiday – B

The Libertine – D

Little Miss Sunshine – B+

Lucky Number Slevin – B

The Matador – B+

Match Point – A

Miami Vice – C

Mission Impossible III – C-

Monster House – B+

Munich – A-

My Super Ex-Girlfriend – A-

Nacho Libre – C

The Omen – B-

Over the Hedge – B

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest – B-

A Prairie Home Companion – C

Rumor Has It… – C-

Scary Movie 4 – D+

The Shaggy Dog – C-

Shakespeare Behind Bars – A-

16 Blocks – B

Sky High – B-

Slither – B

Stay Alive – D-

Supergirl – C-

Superman: The Movie – A

Superman II – A-

Superman Returns – C+

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby – B

24: Season 5 – B+

United 93 – A

V for Vendetta – B+

The Wicker Man – BOMB

World Trade Center – A

X-Men: The Last Stand – B-

You, Me and Dupree – C-