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 Although I did not care for Never
Back Down, the film does have an audience that will probably be cheering the
fighters on. The film contains a lot of
realistic, brutal fist fighting and kick-violence, with very little or no
accountability. The teen target audience
may eat it up, but lets not forget that it’s a movie based (loosely) on a real
sport.
Jake (Faris) reluctantly leaves his
starring role on his high school football team and moves to Orlando, Florida
where his mother (Hope) believes Charlie (Watts), his younger brother, has a
better opportunity to make it in professional tennis.
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Rated: PG-13
Starring: Sean Faris, Amber Heard, Djimon Hounsou, Cam Gigandet, Evan Peters
Directed by: Jeff Wadlow
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Being the new guy at his
new high school, he stands out like a sore thumb. But, more so because of his following by
teens in the school that have seen his bone crushing football tackles and quick
temper featured on YouTube.
Looking
to get accepted by his classmates, Jake makes friends with the gorgeous Baja
(Heard), who invites him to a party. At
the party he gets confronted by Mixed Martial Arts professional and high school
bully Ryan (Gigandet), who challenges Jake to a fight. Not wanting to back down, Jake gets the
beating of his life.
Embarrassed and
feeling Baja set him up, Jake seeks out training in the sport. Here he meets his mentor Roqua (Djimon) who
warns the boy that it is a sport and fighting outside his gym is
prohibited. When he starts to waver from
the rules, however, Jake runs into more trouble than he bargained for.
The
pinpoint direction by Wadlow is excellent.
His use of camera close-ups to catch all the brutal action contained in
the street fights as well as the competitive championship bout made me cringe
at times because it looked so real. The only
downside I could find beyond the subject matter of the film was the lack of an original
story that has not already played out, i.e. Karate Kid I, II, and III, or even
Fight Club for that matter.
FINAL ANALYSIS: Never
Back Down is a very brutal film that should only be viewed by mature adults
that can make judgments based on reality, not movie-making.
This Reviewer's Rating:    2.5 / 5
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