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List Price: $32.99 | | Label: Summit Entertainment
Salesrank: 11536
Released: July 29, 2008 |
| Our Price: $6.25 |
| Used Price: $5.95 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Movie DVD
Description of Never Back Down (Two-Disc Special Edition):
If you get caught up in the sweaty fight scenes in Never Back Down--and, despite the formulaic plot, you very likely will--it will be due to the sheer kinetic pleasure of muscular bodies in motion. Jake (Tom Cruise look-alike Sean Faris, Yours, Mine, and Ours), full of anger after his father's death, starts to find a place for himself at his new Florida high school--until Ryan, the head of an underground mixed-martial arts (Cam Gigandet, The O.C.), picks Jake out as a prime opponent. After being trounced by Ryan in front of everyone in school, Jake begins training under the firm, moral guidance of a martial arts master with a hidden past (Djimon Hounsou, a long way from Blood Diamond, but still bringing his essential gravitas to the screen). Basically, Never Back Down boils down to a cross between The Karate Kid and Fight Club, minus the sociopolitical commentary. The story and characters are a bundle of featherweight cliches, but that won't stop the aggressively edited fight sequences from stoking a viewer's adrenaline. Also starring Amber Heard (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane) as the very blonde love interest, who (along with an abundance of girls in bikinis--'cause, y'know, it's Florida) is there to assure everyone that these handsome, chiseled boys are strictly heterosexual. --Bret Fetzer
Never Back Down (Two-Disc Special Edition) Reviews:
Excellent Action-packed Movie 
2009-10-22 - Ryan has Jake pinned up against a car. They are brawling in the parking lot outside of Club Zero. Jake reversals and takes Ryan down once and for all.
Never Back Down is a great movie. It all begins when Jake's dad dies in a car crash. Jake's little brother, Charlie, is a big tennis star. So when the family has to move down to Florida, Jake is depressed. And to make things worse, kids at his new school know about his dad. They make fun of him for it, especially Ryan, the best brawler around. So when Jake thinks he can take Ryan out, he is waayyyy wrong. So, Jake trains with his friend Max at 365 Combat Gym to take on Ryan and defeat him.
If you like fighting on TV, or anywhere, you will love this movie. It has a lot of fighting in it, but it's still a GREAT movie. Also, if you like romance drama movies, there is some romance in here when Jake wins the heart of Ryan's girlfriend, Bahaha Miller. I think this movie is mostly a 'guy' movie, but I'm a girl and I loved it! I could watch it again and again.
I would definitely recommend this movie. It's great for at sleepovers or just when hanging out. Like I said, I loved it! It has a lot of brawling in it, which I love to see guys fight out their feelings, especially over a girl, or better yet, pride. Hope you enjoy the movie!
Good MMA movie
2009-09-23 - Never Back Down is a fun movie to watch. The plot is very generic, and is completely predictable, but still fun to watch. The fight scenes are constructed well and shows some good MMA action. The special features on the disc are enjoyable. This movie was reviewed once as the mix of Fight Club and Step Up, so if you liked either movie or both, this is a good choice.
america's critic 
2009-09-11 - i enjoyed this one the guy seemed like a punk but i liked the fight scenes never back down did not disapppoint me reccomend this one get it.
If It's Richard Roeper's Guilty Pleasure It Can Be Yours Too 
2009-08-30 - Like many other reviewers I thought this film looked stupid and didn't pay any attention to it during it's theatrical run. Then I caught the last ten minutes on cable and I was hooked. It helps if you're a fan of MMA fighting or any of the athletes associated with it. This film is kinda like 'Redbelt', but without David Mamet's clever writing, more accomplished actors, and complicated story. The story is simple: Jake (Sean Faris) is an angry young man who is constantly getting into fights after his father dies in a car accident. His mother (Leslie Hope), at the end of her rope trying to deal with him, decides to move the family to Florida for a new beginning. When Jake starts out at his new school he falls for the hottest girl there, a blond named Baja (Amber Heard), and gets beaten up by her bully of a boyfriend Ryan (Cam Gigandet). Humiliated, Jake vows to learn how to fight so that he can get his revenge and get the girl. Only the movie is more than that. The acting is good, the houses and beaches these kids populate look very enticing, there's a little bit of philosophy buried underneath all the bare knuckle brawling, and the soundtrack is good. In other words : It's a movie that critics hated but that's really entertaining and fun to watch. What gives the film respectability is Djimon Hunsou who plays Jake's trainer Roqua. Roqua is from Brazil and like Jake has a tragic past he's trying to escape from. These two butt heads but eventually develop a strong bond that gives the film some genuine emotion. It helps that Faris is a decent enough actor who holds his own in scenes with Hunsou. The rest of the cast isn't as strong. Gigandet (from 'Twilight') is made to look like Brad Pitt from 'Fight Club' but he overdoes the homage. Heard isn't much of an actress but she looks really good in a white bikini. Sure it's full of cliches, plot holes, and all the teen movie trappings but it's a fun summer flick about good looking people that looks really good on DVD. Call me emo but I actually found the ending, set to the Bravery, moving.
Implausible, but entertaining :)
2009-08-12 - A lot of people bemoan the flood of formulaic movies that are churned out by Hollywood at an almost sickening rate, but there's a reason why they're so popular: they work. Never Back Down works better than most, rising above its tired and cliched source material to become more than a sum of its parts. Mind you, this is not high cinema. However, director Jeff Wadlow takes Chris Hauty's already focused screenplay and moves it along at a snappy pace, trimming the excess fat and fluff that plagues most films in this genre, and populating it with pleasantly attractive characters of both the male and female variety. Not once do we ever believe that these characters are real people, with their ripped abs, perfect teeth, and multi-million dollar mansions, but at least they are all equal in their perfection, which makes the story easier to swallow.
Sean Faris plays Jake Tyler, an athletic teen from Iowa with a mean right hook and an even meaner temper, especially when his deceased father is brought up. Jake, his mother, and his little tennis prodigy of a brother pick up and move to sunny upscale Florida, so his brother can pursue a tennis scholarship. Naturally, Jake is the country-bumpkin new fish tossed into the shark tank of big-city high school (another implausibility; in the real world, someone as handsome and fit as Sean Faris would be instantly popular, no matter what school they went to). Jake is then lured to a party by the blonde and beautiful Baja (played by the lovely Amber Heard), where her popular ass-hole boyfriend Ryan McCarthy (Cam Gigandet) makes a spectacle out of beating the ever-living crap out of him in front of the entire school body. Not a good first day, by any means.
After that, a sort of Karate-Kid meets teenage Fight-Club revenge tale begins, with Jake seeking out the aid of wisened and imposing mixed martial arts coach Jean Roqua (Djimon Hounsou). It's this particular relationship, between student and instructor, that elevates the film above mere entertainment. Hounsou plays the part of Roqua with impressive dignity, reining in the hot-headed Faris with firm patience, even when the angry teen tries to make things personal.
The training montages, while a little overdone, are at least physically accurate. Being an amateur MMA practicioner myself, I couldn't find a fault in either the methodology or the exercises themselves. In fact, the film inspired me to add a few new rigorous activities to my training regimen. The fighting, too, is handled with an eye for (stylish) realism. Submissions, reversals, and ground grappling are all accurately represented, and in some instances, called by name. My only complaint with the fighting is the ease with which the combatants counter, reverse, or otherwise escape some strong submissions. Slamming an opponent who's got you wrapped up in a triangle choke is one thing, but rolling and slipping out of a properly locked-in leg bar is completely different. The ability of the primary characters to take brutal punches and keep coming back for more is a bit unrealistic too, but since this is Hollywood, it's expected.
Also, I was surprised to see that the characters had no sort of affiliation with the UFC, WEC, Strikeforce, or any other recognized MMA organization. I realize that the film was trying mightily to capture the "underground" vibe, especially with it's "Beatdown" competition, but any amateur MMA event of this magnitude with fighters of this caliber would have professional sponsors written all over it.
As for the story, it is passable. It helps that Gigandet's character is so utterly dispicable that we almost instantly want him to have his head caved in, because Faris plays a hero that is hard to root for. He's arrogant, tempermental, naive, belligerent, and stubborn, and his transformation over the course of the movie isn't as complete as we'd like it to be. To his credit, however, he plays the character true to its roots, and while we may not like some of the decisions he makes, we can't fault him for acting against his nature. One nice touch is the way Jake is unafraid to lose face at the Beatdown, when he gives up once he realizes that his rival was disqualified. While it does nothing but delay the inevitable final fight, it gives Faris' character a chance to redeem himself.
The ending itself is hamfisted, and convieniently side-steps the fact that even though Jake beat McCartney, a rematch would have been inevitable. No hormonal, image-conscious teenage boy would ever get humiliated like that in front of hundreds of his peers and NOT want revenge, especially someone who used to be the former Big Man on Campus like McCartney. Instead, the film gives us a couple of nice, understanding looks between the two former enemies across a school parking lot, as if everything was made right by the big fight, all former slights and public insults forgotten. In a word, lame.
So, is it cliche'd? Yes. Predictable? Yes. Filled with B-list talent? Yes. Entertaining? Very. Not the best film you'll ever see, but it's definitely a LONG way away from being the worst. And if you're a UFC/MMA fan, I highly recommend it.
