NEVER BACK DOWN

"It's down to you, it always has been"

After the death of his father, Jake Tyler (Faris) has gone of the rails, getting into fights and pushing his mother as far as she could go. With his younger brother getting a tennis scholarship, the family move for a new start in Orlando, Florida but Jake can't leave his reputation behind. This brings him to the attention of local underground fight champion Ryan McCarthy (Gigandet) who needs to take the new guy down a peg or two before he can any kind of respect and he does just that. Badly beaten and filled with anger, his new found friend Max Cooperman (Peters) takes him to Jean Roqua's (Hounsou) combat gym, were he will learn the techniques and skills he needs to win his own, personal fight.

Hollywood is never one to miss out on cashing in on current trends but can they do something original with mixed martial arts fighting?

The popularity of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) around the world couldn't go unnoticed by the Hollywood bigwigs for long but instead of introducing the sport as something legitimate they thought they could recreate 'Fight Club' for teenagers. The bad boy protagonist, moves to Florida to discover that the rich kids of his new Orlando school love nothing better than watching guys and girls beat each other up using mixed martial arts techniques. Throw in a Yoda/Mr Miyagi character in the shape of Brazilian trainer Jean Roqua to put our anger driven teen on the right track and you have a new millennium take on a very old theme.

These are the types of movies that can push the young stars into the big time or finish their career forever and 'Never Back Down' could be the start of something for stars Sean Faris and Amber Heard. As Jake Tyler, Sean Faris makes a big impression by looking uncannily like a younger, taller Tom Cruise. While the judgement will still be out as to whether he can really can, as he is just called upon to fight and look good in this movie, Sean Faris could have a promising career ahead of him. The same can't be said for Amber Heard. As Baja Miller, she is the typical Hollywood blonde bimbo that are ten-a-penny in the movie world at the moment. Yes she is beautiful but she looks like every other actress in these types of movies and looks like she doesn't have the talent to escape being pigeon holed.

As the Yoda/Mr Miyagi character Jean Roqua, Djimon Hounsou brings a little bit of class to the film but you have to wonder what the superb and powerful actor is doing in a movie like this. Leslie Hope tries to carve out a movie career for herself after making her name on the small screen. Evan Peters provides the comedy as Max Cooperman but he does become a little annoying as the film progresses. Cam Gigandet makes an impact as the villain of the piece Ryan McCarthy, but it is just a refresh of the character he played in 'The OC'.

Even some decent fight and training sequences can't make 'Never Back Down' any different from any other teen fight movie that has gone before. While Sean Faris could be a star in the making, fans will not be looking back on this film as one of his highlights as this leaves you on the canvas from the off, making you not want to get up and fight on with this story.

Not Available

The Karate Kid

Only the Strong

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2008