"Never Back Down" Review - Written by TonyD

“Never Back Down”
2008
***½ out of ****
Director: Jeff Wadlow
Cast: Sean Faris, Amber Heard, Cam Gigandet


It should be no secret by now that I am a very cynical man, and a very angry man can only boil himself to a point that he can only take so much until he explodes. By that very description of me, a weakness in film that I have is films that centers on the world of fighting. “Fight Club” is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I have no regrets. That movie is a fucking classic. I won’t go nearly as far as saying that “Never Back Down” is a classic, but it will be a guilty pleasure of mine for many of years to come.

The movie isn’t perfect. Once you look at the star rating, you’ll think I’m crazy, but really, I’m not. I’m not looking for the plot in “Never Back Down.” If I was looking for a plot, I would have given the film a BOMB rating and discard it in my memory. I’m not looking for the acting. If I was looking for some good acting, I would walk into “Funny Games” next door that is only playing twice throughout the day. And I’m not even looking for some good music. Hell, even I was looking for some good music, I’d give it a negative asterisk, because this film’s soundtrack is as MTV (Mainstream-TV) as it can get.

I wanted to see some nice fight sequences. I wanted to learn some moves. I wanted to be entertained. And so I was. That is why I’m giving it what I’m giving it. If you don’t like the rating I gave it, eat my ass.

Football player Jake Tyler (Sean Faris) moves from Iowa to Orlando, Florida with his brother (Wyatt Smith) and mother (Leslie Hope). Tyler has been grieving over his father’s death for a long time now, and once he builds up the anger inside of him, he kicks ass. Before he moves from Iowa, Tyler kicks some ass at a football game by laying out five of the football players… all by himself. Someone puts the clip on YouTube, and once he comes to Orlando, everyone already knows who he is. They have all seen the video, especially Baja (Amber Heard, and she’s American, if you really wanted to know). Baja invites Tyler to a party, where he meets Baja’s boyfriend Ryan (Cam Gigandet). Ryan is a mixed martial artist with a powerful kick.

What Tyler doesn’t know is that Baja set him up. Ryan asked her to invite him so Ryan can fight Tyler in their underground fighting group. Tyler gets his ass kicked, and wakes up in his head with a swollen eye. His friend, Max, (Evan Peters) introduces him to Jean Roqua, (Djimon Hounsou) a teacher of mixed martial arts every day of the year. Tyler prepares to learn the moves that Ryan used on him and how to reverse them, so on the night of The Beatdown (a martial arts event), Tyler can meet Ryan for the final time and will give him the ass kicking that he deserves.

“Never Back Down” is surprisingly entertaining, for the sole reason that the fight sequences are brilliantly choreographed and looked realistic. There is never a false representation of the violent sport. The fight scenes look like that they would kick your ass and for the entire film I accepted the fact that they would kick my ass. It’s going to make me angry when these fight scenes are going to soon be forgotten within these next few years (but don’t worry, I’ll forget it also).

There is not a doubt in my mind that many people will compare this film to “Step Up 2 The Streets,” as people have been doing it since, uhh, I guess the film’s release. But I won’t. Not because it is disrespectful comparing a film like “Never Back Down” to “Step Up 2,” but because I simply didn’t see it. Supposedly, the film’s final battle is a lot like the final battle in “Step Up 2.” I’m not going to spoil the ending to “Never Back Down,” because it’s very predictable and you can see it coming while you’re watching the trailer, but the final battle, nonetheless, is intense.

The biggest problem that I had with “Never Back Down” is the music. I can understand this, because it has to attract some type of artist, but it is basically all of the same exact music that you listen to on MTV. There are montages where songs sung by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and My Chemical Romance are used. The montages are fun to watch, but the songs didn’t impress me. Surprisingly, the only song that actually impressed me was the usage of Kanye West’s “Stronger,” and I fucking hate that song.

Djimon Hounsou does an impressive job, but being that he is the only “professional” here, he needs more of a role. He’s great in it and brings a lot of emotion and heart to the role, but he’s only a supportive character. I wanted more of him. But that’s not that big of a deal, because the film can hold its own in the hands of the main character played by Sean Faris. He’s impressive for some guy that I never heard of before, and this may be his way in breaking into the mainstream.

“Never Back Down” isn’t flawless. It’s not even great. But I like it, and I’m sure many other people will too if they give it a shot. Along with “Never Back Down,” I saw “Horton Hears a Who,” and I don’t think I really need to make mention of what film you should see over the Easter break, do I?