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'Apocalypto' is Trademark Mel Gibson Gore

NPR | By Kenneth Turan

Published December 8, 2006 at 4:00 AM MST

Who knows what violence lurks in the hearts of men?

Mel Gibson knows. And like he did in The Passion of the Christ, Gibson just can't resist putting every last ounce of it on screen in Apocalypto.

He also can't resist pulling those bloody, still-beating hearts out of human bodies. And that's just the beginning.

Kenneth Turan

Kenneth Turan is the film critic for the Los Angeles Times and NPR's Morning Edition, as well as the director of the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. He has been a staff writer for the Washington Post and TV Guide, and served as the Times' book review editor.

See stories by Kenneth Turan