Never Back Down (C- or 1.5/4 stars)
Oh, you can back down from this movie, alright. The title? 'Never Back Down'. And it is directed by Jeff Wadlow. At his new high school (in Orlando, Florida), a rebellious teenager, Jake Tyler (Sean Faris) is lured into an underground fight club (so to speak), where he's mentored by a 'mixed-martial-arts' veteran named Jean Roqua (Djimon Hounsou). After receiving some threats, Jake hopes that Roqua can train his mind & body for one big fight against his high school nemesis, martial arts champ, Ryan McCarthy (an annoying Cam Gigandet). 'NBD' has its surprising moments of intelligence, but they're oh so fleeting.
So, Jake appears to be a mild-mannered guy. But he has a temper. And anytime someone teases him about his father's recent death (was a drunk), he basically goes ballistic on them. His family is forced to move to Orlando (to start anew, again). Jake is initially happy to meet a cute girl named Baja (a mediocre Amber Heard) right off the bat. But it seems that Jake's bad boy reputation follows him everywhere. He's never looking for trouble, it just sorta happens. Jake finds himself back at square one when Ryan provokes him into another fight. Ryan (figuratively) turns the knife in Jake's back further by revealing that Baja is HIS girlfriend.
Jake is not used to losing. So with the help of his new geeky friend Max (Evan Peters), he joins a gym to buff up even more. It's both funny and ... sad ... that Max records every fight he sees so that he can play them on YouTube. Aside: So now YouTube has become a plot point in movies? Blech. At the gym, Jake meets Roqua, a muscle-bound, African man; who's not unlike Mr. Miyagi from 'The Karate Kid'. After some early hesitation (from both men), they grow to respect each other ... shocker. Roqua takes Jake under his wing, giving him hypocritical life lessons, & preparing him for a re-match with Ryan. Yadayada.
All is not completely lost while watching 'NBD'. Whoever the director is, he has panache for creating realistic teen angst, realistic high school relationships, & realistic dialogue (... at times). The fight scenes are uninventive. But they bring back good memories of films such AS The Karate Kid & Fight Club (2 vastly superior flicks). I could see young teens finding this an 'important' film, for them. Sean Faris is fine as Jake. He bears an unbelievable resemblance to Tom Cruise, circa 1983. Djimon Hounsou (what are you DOING in this?!?) is fine in the mentor role. And Jake's funny sidekick, played by Evan Peters, was my favorite character. I think I also liked him because he's the only character who doesn't look like a porcelain doll. No one has a blemish, everyone has 6-pack abs, etc.
The biggest disappointment of the film is that it's so incredibly formulaic. The premise has been done before ... many times. Yeah, it's executed well enough. But what's the fun in watching an utterly predictable film for almost 2 hours? What, Jake loses the 1st fight, and wins the last? No way. The movie hits all the right plot points (from movies of old), but there's nothing overly original, or emotional behind it. There's very little to hold my interest because I've seen it all before. Going into this film (of which I knew nothing about it), I figured it would be a disaster of epic proportions. It's not. There's nothing bad about it, just bland. I don't think many people outside of the teen and/or martial arts crowd would get 'anything' out of it. To me, this is straight-to-DVD material, all the way.
So, Jake appears to be a mild-mannered guy. But he has a temper. And anytime someone teases him about his father's recent death (was a drunk), he basically goes ballistic on them. His family is forced to move to Orlando (to start anew, again). Jake is initially happy to meet a cute girl named Baja (a mediocre Amber Heard) right off the bat. But it seems that Jake's bad boy reputation follows him everywhere. He's never looking for trouble, it just sorta happens. Jake finds himself back at square one when Ryan provokes him into another fight. Ryan (figuratively) turns the knife in Jake's back further by revealing that Baja is HIS girlfriend.
Jake is not used to losing. So with the help of his new geeky friend Max (Evan Peters), he joins a gym to buff up even more. It's both funny and ... sad ... that Max records every fight he sees so that he can play them on YouTube. Aside: So now YouTube has become a plot point in movies? Blech. At the gym, Jake meets Roqua, a muscle-bound, African man; who's not unlike Mr. Miyagi from 'The Karate Kid'. After some early hesitation (from both men), they grow to respect each other ... shocker. Roqua takes Jake under his wing, giving him hypocritical life lessons, & preparing him for a re-match with Ryan. Yadayada.
All is not completely lost while watching 'NBD'. Whoever the director is, he has panache for creating realistic teen angst, realistic high school relationships, & realistic dialogue (... at times). The fight scenes are uninventive. But they bring back good memories of films such AS The Karate Kid & Fight Club (2 vastly superior flicks). I could see young teens finding this an 'important' film, for them. Sean Faris is fine as Jake. He bears an unbelievable resemblance to Tom Cruise, circa 1983. Djimon Hounsou (what are you DOING in this?!?) is fine in the mentor role. And Jake's funny sidekick, played by Evan Peters, was my favorite character. I think I also liked him because he's the only character who doesn't look like a porcelain doll. No one has a blemish, everyone has 6-pack abs, etc.
The biggest disappointment of the film is that it's so incredibly formulaic. The premise has been done before ... many times. Yeah, it's executed well enough. But what's the fun in watching an utterly predictable film for almost 2 hours? What, Jake loses the 1st fight, and wins the last? No way. The movie hits all the right plot points (from movies of old), but there's nothing overly original, or emotional behind it. There's very little to hold my interest because I've seen it all before. Going into this film (of which I knew nothing about it), I figured it would be a disaster of epic proportions. It's not. There's nothing bad about it, just bland. I don't think many people outside of the teen and/or martial arts crowd would get 'anything' out of it. To me, this is straight-to-DVD material, all the way.