Smarter than you might wish it were

Rating: 6/10 (13 March 2008)

I saw the film at a screening last night, expecting a hot, angsty white kid, teen romp with lots of inappropriate violence highlighted by super slow motion spit and blood after every shot to the face. I thought I would only be able to laugh at how seriously the movie takes itself.
And thats how it happened. Kind of.
This film is a success in the way that it allows itself to play both as a true fight-movie genre, sure to satisfy the 2008 Karate Kid fans, and a over the top camp spectacle, sure to excite the drunk-in-the-theater, "Snakes on a Plane!", hollaring at the screen crowd. It throws in just enough genre references to let the audience know it knows how ridiculous the clichés are, but maintains enough composure to avoid satirizing, leaving the Wayans brothers room to make the easier "Just Another Fight Movie".
There are some uncomfortable elements in the film for sure. The way the film takes advantage of class politics (poor white boy from Iowa without a father gets taught to fight by poorer Brazilian man to fight super rich white boy) is cheap, completely subverted by MTV Cribs-like glorification of wealth-- Jake doesn't have a car, but it never becomes more than an a badge of authenticity since new friend Max seems fine with lending him his hot little convertible for the entire story.
Violence is glorified, and the warnings from Hounsou's character never to fight outside the gym play the clichéd moralistic role you'd expect until the final fight scene demands something else.
None of this should be any surprise to audiences and in a way it seems hard to critique the film for them. If the genre is fight film, you've got to play by the genre's conventions and Never Back Down definitely does.
The more intelligent parts of the film occur with Wadlow's original take on the rumor mill, again showing his ability to capture super modern technology on film (remember Cry Wolf's AIM sequences?), this time utilizing viral video and DV camcorders. The fight scenes are well choreographed and shot like a more-than-competent music video. The soundtrack is as sexy as the cast and pace of the film.
In the end this is not a film that will last, but it is also not a film made by inept or unintelligent filmmakers. They know what they are doing, and whether you wish they had done it or not, I think you will be able to appreciate it on whichever level you might choose.