You Might Want to Back Down from this one!

Rating: 4/10 (26 February 2008)

I saw an advance screening of "Never Back Down" & it was exactly what the trailer showed! It was the "The Karate Kid" meets "Kickboxer".
"Never Back Down" is the story of Jake Tyler, a tough kid with a guilty past who fights with his fists. & angry at the whole world over the death of his father since he feels like he is to blame. Jake Tyler, played by Sean Faris, has recently moved to Orlando, Florida with his family who has relocated to support his younger brother's shot at a professional tennis career. Jake was a star athlete on the football team at home, but in this new city he is an outsider with a reputation for being a quick tempered brawler, thanks to a fight he had at a football game in his old hometown which ended up being broadcasted on Youtube (Of Course!). Making an attempt to fit in, at the invitation of a charming classmate, Baja (Amber Heard). Jake goes to a party (Thinking he is going to get a date W./Baja) where he is unwittingly pulled into a fight with a bully named Ryan McDonald (Cam Gigandet). While he is defeated and humiliated in the fight, a classmate introduces himself to Jake and tells him about the sport known as Mixed Marshall Arts (MMA). He sees a star in Jake and asks that he meet with his mentor, Jean Roqua, played by Djimon Hounsou ("Blood Diamond," "In America"). After that everything elese is predictable, again think of the ending to the "The Karate Kid"!
Standard plot of the outcast trying to fit it who has to take down the cocky school bully to prove his worth! Nothing original! If it wasn't for the free advance screening, I would have waited for video!