A bone crunching and thrilling B-movie grit.

Rating: 7/10 (21 December 2012)

Even though it isn't pleasant surprise, Never Back Down delivers what it promises. The film is never boring, because it's the encore and energy makes it in guilty-pleasure form. Some may not like this film unless you're a MMA or pro-wrestling fan. Rest assured, this movie may satisfy weekend viewers.
Enter Jake Tyler (Sean Faris), an Iowa football jock that was forced to move to Orlando with his family. As a grieving fatherless son, he became taunted by the past and became somewhat the rebellious man any. Upon moving, he became unexpectedly infamous for being the most popular brawler from his last home before Iowa.
With the voluptuous Baja (Amber Heard), she invites Jake into something which is unbeknownst to him. He thought it was just a party, but it turns out to be a pretty disastrous moment. With this, he meets his match, the anti-hero Ryan Mccarthy (Cam Gigandet). Ryan is the most popular fighter in Jake's new school, and is about to test how good the Iowa guy is.
But since Jake doesn't know how to fight Ryan, expect that he will be forced to seek the help of an instructor. For instance, Djimon Honsou as Jean Roqua, he will teach Jake how to prepare against Ryan. But Roqua has one rule, no fighting outside the gym. Otherwise, he's out. Expect rules to be broken. But I guess I'll leave the rest to you.
The role of Jake would've been suitable for actors like Dolph Lundgren or Mark Wahlberg, if the narrative wasn't casted for young actors such as Faris himself. Amber Heard wasn't such bad in this movie. She's good trying to be a what-not, from-bimbo-to-best-pal character. Her supporting lead is particularly intriguing, if not so good. And Gigandet obtains sarcastic, trigger-happy like attitude which is well executed. He's one of the best bad villains that gives cheap thrills and taunts. My personal choice to play Roqua would be Dwayne Johnson, But Honsou is preferable for the part.
Never Back Down takes its time to be inevitable, but it doesn't mean it's not a good movie. The bone-crunching fight scenes and martial-arts violence is a hit-and-miss. But I found myself thrilled and respecting it's time for stupidity. Fueled by Michael Wandmacher's soundtrack, the script by Chris Hauty and Jeff Wadlow's direction make a good combination on how to survive a dog-eats-dog territory. That's what I like about good cheap with B-picture grit. Think of this film as the modern Karate Kid. However, there's no wax-on-wax-off in the plot, there's only excessive breathing to remember.