Never Back Down (2008)
Directed by Jeff Wadlow
Jake, full of anger after his father's death, is just starting to find a place for himself at his new Orlando high school - until Ryan, head of an underground MMA fight club, picks Jake out as a prime opponent. After being trounced by Ryan in front of the entire school, Jake begins training under the firm, moral guidance of a MMA master, where he learns how to fight... and how to avoid a fight. But it becomes obvious that a rematch will be inevitable if Jake wants to stop Ryan and his bullying, once and for all.
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8 films that influenced Never Back Down
What critics say influenced Never Back Down
A ripoff of The Karate Kid, director Jeff Wadlow’s Never Back Down differs in one crucial respect: instead of karate, the top activity at high schools these days seems to be beating the shit out of each other.
Those with a craving for the story would be better off re-watching The Karate Kid than enduring this lackluster re-telling.
A sort of teenage Fight Club, complete with daddy issues, Never Back Down is a slight refinement of the sort of picture that was ascendant in the '80s (think The Karate Kid).
Compare that philosophy with the advice mixed-martial-arts trainer Jean Roqua (Djimon Hounsou) metes out in Never Back Down, a 21st-century version of The Karate Kid that swaps out karate for Ultimate Fighting-style brawls.
Tyler does not live on planet Earth, but planet Hollywood formula, where the storm clouds of Fight Club hang over the once charming but now seedy landscape of The Karate Kid.
The mixed martial arts flick Never Back Down borrows from other movies almost shamelessly â it's The Karate Kid meets Fight Club by way of Abercrombie & Fitch.
A sort of teenage Fight Club, complete with daddy issues, Never Back Down is a slight refinement of the sort of picture that was ascendant in the '80s...
Tyler does not live on planet Earth, but planet Hollywood formula, where the storm clouds of Fight Club hang over the once charming but now seedy landscape of The Karate Kid.
The mixed martial arts flick Never Back Down borrows from other movies almost shamelessly â it's The Karate Kid meets Fight Club by way of Abercrombie & Fitch.
Here he's baby Brad Pitt in "Fight Club" - fatless, kind of dangerous but needy: attention is photosynthetic for him.
"Never Back Down" is a junior version of "Fight Club," only with no movie stars and different moves.
If you combined "The Karate Kid" with "Fight Club," then threw in a dash of "The O.C." and "You Got Served," then beat it with a stick until it was really stupid, you'd have something twice as smart as "Never Back Down."
Putting aside the movie's questionable message for a moment, Never Back Down is compulsively watchable in the same way those old Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicles like Bloodsport and Lionheart were.
Putting aside the movie's questionable message for a moment, Never Back Down is compulsively watchable in the same way those old Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicles like Bloodsport and Lionheart were.
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Meanwhile, the resemblance between Sean Faris and Tom Cruise circa Risky Business is uncanny.
Take away the fact that the screenplay by Chris Hauty is merely a crude photocopy of the classic wuss underdog story “Karate Kid,” and all that’s left behind are a variety of pretty boy actors who couldn’t emote realistically even if held at gunpoint, and hacky, trendy stylistic choices made by director Jeff Wadlow (“Cry_Wolf”) that bury the rest of the film in suffocating gloss.
Director Jeff Wadlow ( "Cry_Wolf" ) fills the party scenes with boobful girls, at one point showing a couple of them making out in a hot tub pretty much just so guys in the audience will hoot.
Never Back Down is good-looking, directed by Jeff Wadlow (whose Cry_Wolf was seemingly attractive and vapid, though considerably more entertaining) with a restless camera and a lot of flashy cutting.
When one considers where Million Dollar Baby took this concept, it becomes all the more depressing how little creativity exists in Never Back Down's DNA.
Video of his famous "Friday Night Lights"-style gridiron brawl has been virally spread all over his new school, where the kids now check him out in the halls.