Never Back Down – Movie Review

Never Back Down – Movie Review

A new kid in a new school on an entirely new side of the country is an outcast. Martial art is the major source of popularity in this school. He chases a beautiful, blond girl that happens to be the girlfriend of the school bully. This bully then takes the
initiative in welcoming the new guy by beating him up publicly for looking at his girlfriend. This kid takes up martial arts in order to fit in with the rest of the school. He studies under a mysterious guru that teaches him the art form. Initially they butt
heads, but the young man finally sees the way and eventually confronts the bully in a major tournament. He defeats him in the tournament, achieves glory and receives acceptance from the school population. This plot summary sure sound like the 1984 hit film,
The Karate Kid, doesn’t it? Sorry, but this film does not include the ever popular “Daniel-san”. Actually, the movie that the plot summary describes is Never Back Down, which, you can tell, is the present-day The Karate Kid.

Initial similarities aside, the teen hit-movie Never Back Down has its differences from The Karate Kid. The protagonist, Jake Tyler, moves from the barren fields of Iowa to the sunny beaches of Florida, due to his little brother receiving a tennis scholarship
to a prestigious academy that boasts a wonderful tennis program. On the outset, Jake is portrayed as having a short fuse and in need of serious anger management. During his last football game in Iowa, an opposing football player is fed up with being physically
dominated by Jake and decides to attack Jake psychologically. This player said that it was a real shame that Jake’s father died in that drunken car accident. That remark sets Jake off and understandably, he deals that person the beating of his life along with
half the opposing team.

When Jake first went to his new high school, he was an outcast. No one talked to him or even noticed him. On his first day, he witnesses a “sparring match” in which his future best-friend, Max Cooperman, fights a losing battle and is humiliated. That was
where he meets his soon-to-be rival, Ryan McCarthy, a chiselled, pretty-boy that has everything that anyone would and could ever ask for. After school, Jake is invited to a massive party by Baja Miller, a gorgeous classmate from English class.

At the party, Ryan McCarthy challenges Jake to a fight after the entire school views the YouTube video of Jake’s last game in Iowa. When he declines, Ryan pulls out the father-card. Jake, infused with hatred and contempt, decides to fight. Predictably, Ryan
defeats Jake and Jake is rendered a fool in front of the entire teenage population in Ryan’s mansion.

The next day, Max goes over Jake’s apartment and invites him to join Jean Roqua’s dojo where Max trains. While there, Jake learns many forms of martial arts and is taught the values and code of fighting. Jean tells Jake that he must not fight for the wrong
reasons and should not, if he wishes to continue training at the dojo, fight outside the building.

Unfortunately after an unsuccessful sparring session at the gym, Jake fights three tough-looking body builders and wins. Max captures this fight on video and shows it to the entire school. While he gains fame from this battle, Jean bans him from the dojo.
Suddenly realizing the magnitude of the situation, Jake apologizes and tells him the reason for his anger issues. He reveals that he was in the car with his father when his father died. His father was drunk at the time and asked Jake to drive, but Jake was
underage at the time and convinced his father to drive home and consequently, his father drove into a tree and killed himself with Jake in the passenger seat. Jake lives through every day with the guilt of his father’s death in his conscience. Roqua, in response,
tells his story. He had a younger brother, who was an excellent mixed-martial art fighter. One day in a bar, a local bully mouthed off at young Joseph, who was about to fight the bully himself. His brother won the brawl, only to be shot and killed by the bully’s
friends just minutes after the fight. Jean’s father blames him for permitting the situation to escalate into the violence that claimed his brother’s life. His father felt that this confrontation could have been avoided. Jean left home over that; he has not
seen his father, or even set foot in Brazil, for the past seven years.

After pouring out his soul and venting about the anguish he experienced over his father’s death, Jake comes to peace with himself. Later on, the audience sees that Ryan fights under a large shadow cast by his successful father, whom Ryan is both fearful
of and angry at. The two shares a similar aspect as each is driven to fight as a result of their relationship with their fathers. Jake learns the purpose of martial arts. It isn’t for the ability to inflict pain; rather, it is the ability to channel your inner
turmoil into an expressive art form.

The soundtrack to this film was phenomenal. The movie was geared towards teenagers and there was a lot of popular music incorporated into this film. The music was perfectly integrated into the scenes. The music during the fight scenes really got you excited
and energized.

The camera angles were ingenious and always captured the action in stride. This movie also shows how influential the internet and cell phones are in our society. Every fight scene is recorded and posted onto YouTube. Everyone’s life story is kept on the
internet. You can find out all the information you would want on the internet.

Never Back Down was a great action packed movie. It really got me interested with the emerging Mixed Martial Arts craze that is sweeping the nation. Although the movie was filled with teenage movie clichés, I was thoroughly entertained. It was a refreshing
adaptation of The Karate Kid in our present day.  

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Posted by Fahad Zafar on Apr 26 2012. Filed under Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry