Boy meets girl, girl meets boy, boy likes girl, girl likes boy, then girl tricks boy into fighting in a mixed martial arts style brawl at a party full of young scantily clad men and women.
Not exactly your typical love story, is it?
Well, that’s exactly the type of love story you’ll find interwoven between fight scenes in the highly entertaining film “Never Back Down,” scheduled for release on March, 14 2008.
Jake Tyler, (Sean Farris), is an angry teen still coping with the loss of his father. With a bad temper and an even worse right hook, Jake has bounced around from school to school since his father’s death. He even starts a brawl at a football game early in the film.
It’s then that he, his mother, and his younger brother move to Orlando, Florida, to help further his brother’s tennis training. On the first day of school, he meets Baja Miller, (Amber Heard), and quickly develops a crush on her. Seemingly just as interested, Baja invites Jake to a party.
It is at this moment that everything starts to break down for Jake.
Unbeknownst to him, his high school full of model type teenagers all share in the enjoyment of backyard MMA fighting and, thanks to YouTube, have become aware of his fighting capabilities.
At the party Jake becomes aware of what he’s gotten himself into and tries to leave but is coaxed into fighting by Ryan McCarthy, (Cam Gigandet), the local champion and Baja’s boyfriend.
After facing a savage beating at the party, Jake enlists the help of Roquoa, (two time academy award nominee Djimon Hounsou), and with help from his newfound friend Max, (Evan Petterson), trains to take on Ryan at the upcoming tournament.
It’s easy to see that, after reading the description that “Never Back Down” more or less follows the traditional coming of age storyline set forth by movies like Karate Kid. Jake Tyler is basically Daniel LaRusso with muscles and his teacher Roquoa is the MMA equivalent of Mr. Miyagi.
It has everything you’d expect in a high school coming of age flick. There’s the good kid who starts out fighting for all the wrong reasons, the teacher with a troubled past, the popular girl who doesn’t really want to be popular, the bad guy who isn’t really the bad guy, the quirky yet lovable friend, the bitter mother and the wise cracking sibling.
Yet, for all its borrowed ideas and superficial characters, “Never Back Down” works. This reason this movie works is that the story and its characters are so engaging. Add to that the expertly crafted fight scenes that perfectly show off the MMA style, and it is hard not to be entertained by this movie.
But be forewarned, this isn’t a thinking man’s movie.
“Never Back Down,” is just smart enough to pull off its task without feeling too light. It’s obvious that the aim of this movie is to attract a younger crowd. With its references to “YouTube” and “Myspace” and cramming in every song that’s hot on the charts right now, it’s no wonder the producers of the film didn’t just stick a disclaimer that said “must be between 13 and 18 to watch”.
Nonetheless, it is still a great film if you want to genuinely be entertained.