Never Back Down
Directed by: Jeff Wadlow Starring: Sean Farris, Djimon Hounsou, Cam Gigandet Synopsis - Ever since his dad died in a drink-drive accident, Jake Tyler (Farris) has had some serious anger management issues. On the eve of moving to Orlando (where his younger brother has a tennis scholorship), Jake gets into a brawl in the middle of a football game. The fight is downloaded from a cellphone onto Youtube and suddenly Jake finds himself the target of Ryan McArthy (Giganet), who is eager to prove himself the best fighter in town. After taking a serious beating, Jake starts training in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) under the watchful eye of Jean Roqua...
Stop me if you've heard this: troubled teen starts at a new school, and in quick sucession falls for the wrong girl and antagonises the wrong guy. Then he's introduced to some illicit but seductive goings on, and it turns out he's a natural. After a couple of training/construction montages, he's ready to face his past and his enemy in the big finale. Sound familiar? It's exactly the same plot as Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. It also bears a striking resemblance to an older movie called Gladiator (Not the Russell Crowe one, the one with James Marshal and Cuba Gooding Jr). Even some of the poster designs share the same style of lettering. Just swap the cars for fighting, and voila. So it gets nil points for originality, but does it get any for entertainment? Actually, yes it does. For all its by-the-numbers approach, there is a reasonable amount to enjoy here. For one, there's Ryan's home life. His family gives dysfunction a bad name. The three of them are circling around the thorny issue of what happened to Jake's father, and none are dealing with it very well. Second is the use of technology and how it is second nature to some of these kids to just whip out their phone and start filming (On the downside, the movie makes the mistake of trying to jazz-up the look of youtube, which ends up making the thing look fake). The third thing that makes this watchable is Djimon Hounsou who adds some much needed weight to a very lightweight movie. His scenes with Farris are part paternal, part hardass. 
So what of the fight scenes? They come across as pretty realistic - I'm glad no one was trying to emulate Yuen Woo Ping here! The training sequences too are rather good. Farris makes for a likeable lead, looking a little like a teen Tom Cruise. There's good support from Gigandet and Evan Peters too. Verdict: Very easy on the eye and the brain. If you'd wished that Tokyo Drift had been about Mixed Martial Arts instead of underground racing, then this is for you. Specifically. You. 5 Out of 10 (Review by MikeOutWest) New! CommentsHave your say about this! Leave me a comment in the box below. |
