Never Back Down (2008)
High schooler learns MMA to face a bully; fans of "Karate Kid" and "Fight Club" will love the action and drama.
Genres: Drama, Action
Cast
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Never Back Down(2008)
Overview
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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Cast
Full Cast & Crew
Sean Faris
Jake Tyler
Amber Heard
Baja Miller
Cam Gigandet
Ryan McCarthy
Djimon Hounsou
Jean Roqua
Evan Peters
Max Cooperman
Leslie Hope
Margot Tyler
Wyatt Smith
Charlie Tyler
Neil Brown Jr.
Aaron
Lauren Leech
Jenny
Tilky Jones
Eric
Steven Crowley
Ben
Tom Nowicki
Mr. Lloyd
Chele André
Max's Girl
Affion Crockett
Beatdown DJ
Chris Lindsay
Beat Down Referee
David Zelon
Ryan's Dad
Jonathan Eusebio
Dak Ho
Jocelyn Binder
Hot Tub Chick
Deon Stein
Hot Tub Chick
Milissa Sears
Baja's Friend (uncredited)
Featured Comments/Tips
The ending was pretty anticlimatic, rushed and pretty bad. Many flaws and annoying characters, Hounsou performance was the pinnacle of the film. However, I can'#39;t say this movie didn'#39;t spark my interest its whole duration, regardless of its quality in my opinion.
Relaxed Pretty Good Awkward Parody
Amber Heard (“Remember The Daze” 'amp; “I Am Number Four”) 'amp; Cam Gigandet (“Easy A”)
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Although this has been done 1,000 times. . . Never Back Down was still a really great movie that I had a lot of fun watching, and I was surprised with how much I actually ended up liking it.
Hollywood Remake Remake In Hollywood
Loved it, Watched it more than twice for sure.
Hollywood Remake Remake In Hollywood Best Movies Comedy Parody Funny
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Cam Gigandet ("Easy A") Thumbs Up Most Underrated With Sean Faris ("The Vampire Diaries")
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Pretty good very ecstatic and really ecstatic excellent 10/10 rating movie
cam gigandet oh my god he is so cool !!!!
_Karate Kid_ with a high school version of _Lionheart_... actually, a high school version of pretty much *anything* JCVD did back in the day (think _"new guy meets ancient master and learns everything there is to know in a month"_). An eyeroll-worthy piece of tripe that wasn't improved with great fight scenes. In fact, the fight scenes were very poorly done, rushed, confusing; it was even difficult [spoiler]to tell how the final fight scene concluded, and to make it even better, the two combatants appeared to wind up tight.[/spoiler] This one is probably best viewed by prepubescent boys who get a major thrill out of bikini clad teenage girls. Fans of martial arts/MMA fight movies will probably be very bored with this steaming pile. :face_vomiting:
Featured User Reviews
It's a simple story that could have been decent but is let down by the main lead in my opinion. Sean Faris was not a likeable actor to me. His portrayal of an angry teen just came off as more annoying than anything. I get that he lost his father and is grieving, but I just found it hard to root for him or feel sorry for him with his constant moaning. He has no charisma at all. Massively let this film down for me. The fight scenes were ok, but theirs been plenty of similar movies with much better. Cam Gigandet plays a pretty decent antagonist, and he bought more energy to his character than Farris ever did and brings a certain cockiness to his character. Amber Heard plays the typical love interest who is at first obviously with the antagonist before going over to the protagonist. She was also just ok in this movie, nothing special, but she certainly is eye candy for the role. The mentor Jean Roque played wonderfully by Djimon Hounsou is easily the standout of this film. He is the owner of a gym who agrees to train Jake. Before he agrees to train, he tells Jake that he forbids fighting outside of the gym, which let's be honest, we all knew was never going to happen. Djimon brings more depth to his character than any other and you can start to understand what he's all about as the film progresses. Never Back Down is a very average movie that fails to inspire. 5/10
Jake Tyler (Sean Faris) has just moved to a new school after the death of his father and becomes into conflict with another student Ryan McCarthy (Cam Gigandet), which leads him to discover an underground fight club. It's a simple story that could have been decent but is let down by the main lead in my opinion. Sean Faris was not a likeable actor to me. His portrayal of an angry teen just came off as more annoying than anything. I get that he lost his father and is grieving, but I just found it hard to root for him or feel sorry for him with his constant moaning. He has no charisma at all. Massively let this film down for me. The fight scenes were ok, but theirs been plenty of similar movies with much better. Cam Gigandet plays a pretty decent antagonist, and he bought more energy to his character than Farris ever did and brings a certain cockiness to his character. Amber Heard plays the typical love interest who is at first obviously with the antagonist before going over to the protagonist. She was also just ok in this movie, nothing special, but she certainly is eye candy for the role. The mentor Jean Roque played wonderfully by Djimon Hounsou is easily the standout of this film. He is the owner of a gym who agrees to train Jake. Before he agrees to train, he tells Jake that he forbids fighting outside of the gym, which let's be honest, we all knew was never going to happen. Djimon brings more depth to his character than any other and you can start to understand what he's all about as the film progresses. Never Back Down is a very average movie that fails to inspire. 5/10.
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