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Mood:
Exciting Rough Suspenseful
Plot:
Athlete and Trainer Teenage Life Rivalry Youth Contests and Competitions High School Life Hopes Family Relations more...
Genres:
Action
Time/Period:
Contemporary 21st Century
Place:
Florida USA High School
Audience:
Boys' Night Teens
Style:
Martial Arts
Attitudes:
Serious Realistic
Flag:
Profanity Sexual Content Violent Content

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Overview

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Never Back Down, 2008

Starring: Sean Faris, Djimon Hounsou, Amber Heard

Directed by: Jeff Wadlow

Written by: Chris Hauty

Language: English

Country: USA

Runtime: 110 min

MPAA Rating: PG_13

Rating:6.2

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Profile of Never Back Down

Never Back Down can be described as exciting, rough, and suspenseful. The plot revolves around an athlete and trainer, teenage life, and youth. The main genre is action. In terms of style, Never Back Down features martial arts. In approach, it is serious and realistic. It is set, at least in part, at a high school. Never Back Down is located in Florida. It takes place in contemporary times. It is well suited for teens and a boys' night. Note that Never Back Down involves sexual content, profanity, and violent content.

Summary of Never Back Down

There's no eye-gouging, no biting, and no crotch shots allowed, but everything else goes in NEVER BACK DOWN, an invigorating high school sports/ultimate backyard fighting hybrid. Sean Faris plays Jake, the new kid (with a troubled past) who butts heads with rich alpha-male bully Ryan (Cam Gigandet, channeling Brad Pitt in FIGHT CLUB) at Miami High. Amber Heard plays Baja, the hot blonde who tricks Jake into attending a combination pool party/fight club held at Ryan's MTV cribs-style mansion. Jake doesn't want to fight at first but gets goaded into a blind rage and then gets his butt kicked. Enter Djimon Hounsou as the local fighting instructor who teaches Jake some self-discipline (and how to throw a cement block at the camera from 30 paces). Director Jeff Wadlow clearly harbors nostalgia for the halcyon days of TOP GUN and FLASHDANCE; the emo-rock-scored training montages flow as free as Baja's blonde hair during her frequent slow-motion walks down the hall. Jake even has a wisecracking slacker cameraman sidekick (Evan Peters) who uploads all the fights to the internet. Concerned parents will be glad to know there's not much drinking or kissing, and no matter how hard the punches and roundhouse kicks may be, everybody gets to keep their teeth. Special acting shout-out to Wyatt Smith as Jake's tennis-prodigy kid brother and Leslie Hope as their stressed-out single mom.

Details

Language:	English
Country:	USA
Release date:	4 March 2008
Runtime:	110 min

Cast and Crew See all

Sean Faris

as Jake Tyler

Djimon Hounsou

as Jean Roqua

Amber Heard

as Baja Miller

Photos See all

Never Back Down (2008)

Clips See all

Never Back Down: Trailer

Critics Reviews See all

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Director Jeff Wadlow and screenwriter Chris Hauty are so committed to following through on the "Karate Kid" formula that they don't care for novelty; it's enough for them just to hit their cues and play up the slo-mo MMA brutality. In the future,... Full Review

|
by: Scott Tobias

Variety

Best part, though, is the cast: Everyone's a model, everyone beats each other half to death, and no one looks as if they've ever suffered so much as a coldsore. Full Review

|
by: John Anderson

Users Reviews See all

MMA version of The Karate Kid

Capitalizing on the mixed martial arts craze, Chris Hauty wrote this pretty decent drama, which can be described as a MMA version of The Karate Kid. Storyline's the same: kid with issues gets beaten by rich boy fighter, gets training by coach and... Read and rate it

08.June.2011
|
by: Albert Valentin
Albert Valentin rated this movie8/10Great

B movie storyline, boys' night perfect

Never Back Down has a very mediocre storyline which but still manages to present it in a passable way. I didn't expect such a good final fighting scene, it tops most other similar movies in both realism and visual representation. If you like... Read and rate it

08.August.2010
|
by: inthenameofmine
inthenameofmine rated this movie7/10Good

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