NEVER BACK DOWN
The unfortunate novelty of Jeff Wadlow’s good-looking but hopelessly shallow fighting flick is not the kinetic MTV inspired scrap sequences but its hilariously homoerotic energy that towers even the heights of the penultimate 80s gay buddy movie TOP GUN.
Jeff Wadlow Written by: Chris Hauty Starring: Sean Faris, Amber Heard, Djimon Hounsou, Cam Gigadent, Leslie Hope, Wyatt Smith Distributed by Summit Entertainment Film will be released in the U.K. on April 4th 2008 Review by Oliver Pfeiffer
rating: 2.5
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Never Back Down yearns desperately to be the next answer to Fight Club, accumulating a heck of a lot of energy to be pounded recklessly upon its audience. But unfortunately the end result lacks serious cinematic clout. Its the story of rebellious, guilt-ridden temperamental teen Jake Tyler (Sean Faris). Jake is a troubled young man who blames himself for his fathers drunk driving death a few years ago. After a violent sporting incident with a school bully, who takes a dig at his old man, Jake finds himself relocating to Florida, along with his disapproving mother (Leslie Hope) and young smartarse brother Charlie (Wyatt Smith). His new Orlando College seems the idyllic American learning institution until he accidentally stumbles upon a secretive fighting contest, between two teens. Soon Jake comes to learn that chauvinistic rich kid Ryan (Cam Gigandet) is the competitive ringleader in a set of popular brutal tournaments and that he himself is personally targeted for the latest contest. Embarrassingly beaten to a pulp by Ryan during a party, the amateur fighter soon enrols with Jean Roquas (Djimon Hounsou) personal training group of martial artists to learn how to better fend off his foe, and to prepare him for a deadly final tournament with his new adversary. The concept sounds faintly familiar doesnt it? Well thats because Never Back Down is really just a better looking, homoerotic remake of The Karate Kid that has arrived some 25 years after the original event. It even boasts a Mr Miyagi figure in the form of Hounsous angry do gooder trainer Roqua, who instead of waxing on and waxing off simply tutors his pupils to Breath! during their kinetic manoeuvres. However this mentor has the annoying audacity to warn his pupils that if they ever use their honed skills outside the office they will be shamed and shunned from the training club. What exactly is the point in teaching these delinquents to fight in the first place you may ponder? Well because, as Master Jean states: Angry boys leave my gym a hell of a lot less angrier!. But, ironically self-defence is prohibited too. So when Jake decides to defend himself against a group of hot-blooded road ragers he finds himself plighted by his own natural fighting instinct and later dismissed by a disapproving Jean who dually throws him out of class. What is the point indeed? Luckily Jake stands up to Mr Righteous later on by proclaiming that Everyones got a fight in them this is my fight!. And finally with his mentors blessing Jake is allowed to pursue his brutal final conflict with pretty boy Ryan. The unfortunate novelty of Jeff Wadlows good-looking but hopelessly shallow fighting flick is not the kinetic MTV inspired scrap sequences but its hilariously homoerotic energy that towers even the heights of the penultimate 80s gay buddy movie Top Gun. The signs are all over the shop: when seemingly nice, hopelessly wealthy college teen Ryan McCarthy (posing as a James Dean, but managing nothing beyond a Dean Martin) invites Jake into his spacious party pad mansion - where a slew of scantly clad girls wonder around briskly, (with some even indulging in a little one on one in a bath tub I might add) - Jake muses that he is in high heaven. Ryan agrees but then glances past the totty to reveal the real reason he thinks hes a lucky SOB: because he can have his own little one to one scrapping contests with scantly clad, toned torsos that are of the decidedly male variety. You see girls play second fiddle to the boys in this world. They simply make up the background scenery. Its with the male bonding that the guys mostly appear to get down and dirty. That is apart from Ryans neglected love interest Baja Miller (a thankless role for All The Boys Love Mandy Lane's Amber Heard), who causes emotional conflict when she decides to leaves Ryan and bridge the predictable love triangle between the two feuding boys. Director Wadlow may have divided audiences with his passable horror yarn Cry Wolf but with Never Back Down displays such ludicrous unapologetic in-your-face idiocy that you wonder whether hes capable of distinguishing between cinema fare and mindless computer game entertainment. But, to be fair the film does have its moments. Theres an appropriately engrossing gradual build up to a fittingly barbaric showdown and an infectious grasp on new age techno driven celebrity society: Jakes floppy haired camera clad friend Max eagerly captures every violent brawl on his recording device, the footage then finding itself instantly obtainable through download consumption via YouTube, then mobile phones, consequently making an instant college star out of its willing participants. But at the end of the day this is simply a clear cut excuse for spineless tormenting twentysomethings to channel out their aggression through glamorised catfights. Never Back Down is over hyped fighting fodder for that unfortunate generation who missed out on The Karate Kid but were still too young to properly experience Fight Club.