In theaters

NEVER BACK DOWN, directed by Jeff Wadlow, written by Chris Hauty, 113 minutes, rated PG-13.

Given the rush of recent gems that have tumbled from the heavens of Hollywood lately, you’d swear the holidays were upon us again. Lots of little movie gifts everywhere. Who wouldn’t be satisfied by the product pouring into cineplexes?

A glance back reveals such noteworthy efforts as “Step Up 2 the Streets,” “College Road Trip,” “10,000 B.C.,” “Doomsday,” “Semi-Pro,” “Fool’s Gold” and “Jumper.”

And now, Hollywood has come through again, this time with the genius that is Jeff Wadlow’s “Never Back Down.” Essentially, the movie is about pretty boys posing, preening and pummeling each other until they knock themselves senseless. Oh, and it’s also about fetishizing their abs, not that anyone here would admit it.

Based on Chris Hauty’s script, the film is a cross between “Fight Club” and “The Karate Kid,” though without the latter’s A-list cast. Yes, that’s right, its A-list cast. When compared to the D-listers assembled in “Back Down,” Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio are so A-list, it hurts.

The film follows Sean Faris as Jake Tyler, who years ago didn’t take the wheel for his drunk dad and who now blames himself for the car wreck that took the man’s life while he was half in the bag.

Filled with rage but essentially good at heart, Jake is a squinty-eyed scrapper, so incapable of dealing with his guilt, that his eyes burn at the idea of a fight when the opportunity presents itself. His tough-love mother (Leslie Hope) is at a loss with how to handle him – she just throws dinnerware as if she can afford to do so, which she can’t – but his younger brother, Charlie (Wyatt Smith), still looks up to him, which Jake understands is a responsibility, not that he initially cares much.

When the Tyler family leaves Iowa for Florida, where Charlie is to study to become a tennis pro, Jake finds two outlets for his rage. The first is in Ryan McCarthy (Cam Gigandet), a high school sociopath who enjoys beating the living hell out of people. Since Jake has come to Florida with a bad reputation (apparently, his previous fights have gone viral over the Internet), he’s no exception – Ryan wants a piece of him. So does a saucy minx named Baja (Amber Heard), who is Ryan’s reluctant girlfriend, sure, but who’d rather be swapping blows with Jake.

The second outlet for Jake’s rage is at a gym called Combat Club, which is owned by the secretive Jean Roqua (Djimon Hounsou). There, Tyler learns how to fight, but under the strict condition that he never use his newfound skills at a public fighting event.

So, what are the odds that he does just that? And could it be that Roqua ejects him from the gym when he finds out? And what of Baja, who might not be the sweet piece of hard candy she initially seems to be? Is she really in it to win it with Jake, who predictably comes to fight Ryan in the film’s feverish denouement?

If you don’t know and still are intrigued, “Never Back Down” is for you.

Grade: D

On DVD

THE MIST, written and directed by Frank Darabont, 127 minutes, rated R.

Frank Darabont’s “The Mist,” which Darabont adapted from Stephen King’s 1980 novella, was one of last year’s better horror movies. It’s a film about how a mysterious mist takes rise on the horizon after a storm slams into a coastal Maine town, leaving its residents rushing to repair the destruction left in its wake.

To the supermarket the Maine locals and “those from away” go, including Thomas Jane’s David Drayton and his young son, Billy (Nathan Gamble), who offer to give their bitter New York neighbor, Brent Norton (Andre Braugher), a lift.

At the supermarket, a melting pot of the town’s townspeople brews, only to be whipped into a froth when the mist crashes into the store, shaking it, and then when a man with blood on his face runs screaming from the mist claiming that something is in it and that they need to shut the doors behind him now.

Has the man gone mad or is there indeed something in the mist? To the film’s credit, it allows us sufficient time to be freaked out by not knowing before it unleashes all of the monsters hissing therein.

Of course, nothing in the mist is as terrifying – or as heroic – as what we ourselves can become when pressed by fear. That’s the film’s point and that’s what it reveals so well.

While several characters remain as rational as possible in spite of the odds stacked against them, others waver on the sidelines while another character – Marcia Gay Harden’s Bible-thumping Mrs. Carmody – at last finds herself a pulpit and an audience upon which she can unleash her religious rhetoric.

As things grow from bad to worse, so does she, bellowing to the heavens that the end of days is upon them. Only a human sacrifice will placate her god and Drayton’s boy, as far as she is concerned, will do just fine.

Beyond Jane and Harden, who do fine work here (especially Harden, who is excellent), the movie offers solid supporting turns from Toby Jones and Laurie Holden, several surprises tucked within the so-so special effects and genre cliches, and an ending that’s so good, it proves that even in today’s mass-market movies, sometimes Hollywood has the guts to turn a blind eye to the box office, focus on what best serves the story – and just get it right.

Grade: B+

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

NEW TO DVD

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

Across the Universe – C+

American Gangster – B

Bee Movie – C

Blades of Glory – B+

Dan in Real Life – B

Eastern Promises – A-

Enchanted: DVD, Blu-ray – A-

Forbidden Hollywood

Collection, Vol. 2 – B+

The Game Plan – B

Gone Baby Gone – B+

Hairspray – A-

I am Legend: DVD,

Blu-ray – B-

Into the Wild – A

In the Valley of Elah – B+

The Kite Runner – B-

Lust, Caution – C

Margot at the Wedding – C

Michael Clayton – A-

Midsomer Murders: Early Cases Collection – B

A Mighty Heart – A-

The Mist – B+

No Country for Old Men – A

No Reservations – B-

Ratatouille – A

The Simpson’s Movie – B+

Shoot ‘Em Up – B

Sicko – A-

Stardust – B

Superbad – B+

Surf’s Up – B+

3:10 to Yuma – A

Transformers – B+