A next Generation Karate Kid for the sassier youth of today, an entertaining movie!

Rating: 8/10 (25 March 2008)

Certainly Never Back Down will never take home any film making accolades but if the idea was to entertain it does that and does it solidly. There are the obvious comparisons to Karate Kid for those of us who grew up the classic eighties series but ultimately Never Back Down has only one message or moral...Never....Back...Down...and I'm not sure it's all that much of a moral really. So it doesn't quite have the life lessons that Karate Kid bestowed to us. I think Never Back Down was made to entertain and show off hot bodies, cool locations, and some kick ass fighting techniques for the latest fighting crazy, that being Ultimate Fighting or mixed martial arts or whatever you want to call it. The choreography for the fight scenes is intense and definitely makes you cringe to watch them get hit and beat to a pulp. Still the whole Rocky, Karate Kid type genre recipe is there in full force. Kid rough around the edges meets his match, meets the girl, trains with the best, comes back to kick the mean guys butt. But hey I think that genre is not done to the degree of decency that it used to be in the eighties so I quite enjoyed Never Back Down. One of the truly unique things about the film is that even though much of it might be seen as a little materialistic, shallow even...the characters have a surprised amount of depth.
Sean Faris, looking strikingly like a young Tom Cruise, plays Jake Tyler. He's a brawler new to the area that gets caught up with the wrong people at the wrong time. Faris is terrific and really lights up the screen and to echo some other reviewers on IMDb I think this will be his break out role. He does a really good job in this role. Despite the film being about no holds barred brawling, there is some serious emotion here to his character about his past and his father and you do really get attached to the character. Amber Heard is just...well...she's drop dead sexy as the new object of Jake's affection Baja Miller. She is the stereotypical eye candy and they use her as such throughout the film shamelessly having her show up in a bikini or low cut top BUT they actually use her as a character too!! Her character goes through some big changes in the film and her and Faris are electric together and really make a great team. She's talented and hot so bonus for this film because they were able to use her as more than just eye candy. Cam Gigandet I had already come to despise (but in a good way) as Volchok on The O.C. but he was the perfect bad guy in Never Back Down. He just has this smarmy, sleazy tough guy bad boy thing going on and he was the perfect adversary to Faris' good guy. I hope this opens up some roles for him as well. Evan Peters is a good addition to the cast as Faris' new found best friend Max. I wouldn't say he was quite as strong an actor as the rest of them but he fit in well as comic relief and as an underdog sidekick type character. In a small role Leslie Hope is terrific as Faris' mother who is suffering from depression and struggling for her family. She really is great in a small role. Wyatt Smith also does a decent job as Faris' little brother. And finally Academy Award nominated actor Djimon Hounsou is brilliant as the tough as nails fighting instructor Jean Roqua who tries to tame Jake's wild skills. He's not quite as profound as Mr. Myagi or quite as determined as Mickey (from Rocky) but he's still an amazing actor and presence and definitely does a great job in the role. He has good chemistry with Faris as well and gets his own sub plot that helps his character.
The story could be described as predictable perhaps but the characters are really well done which is impressive. And the fighting style is different from most films so it keeps you riveted. Director Jeff Wadlow is fairly new to the big screen although I thought he did very well directing the slasher flick Cry Wolf (see my review.) This proves he is a versatile director who can really tell a story and that's exactly what Never Back Down does. Not only is there the surface story about the brawling but actual sub plots from Jake's character to Roqua's story and even Jake's family. I think this might be one of the best predictable stories I've ever seen. It's well worth seeing...I think it's unique and very entertaining!! Check it out. 8.5/10