Issue date: 3/18/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Gene Page - PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE Sean Faris (left) and Cam Gigandet star in 'Never Back Down,' a clever teen combination of 'Step Up 2,' 'Rocky' and 'Fight Club.' [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Photo courtesy of Eyeweekly.com Jean Roquoa (Djimon Hounsou) trains Jake Tyler (Sean Faris) after his first defeat at The BeatDown. [Click to enlarge]

Fighting as an organized sport, or even an art, is not a new concept. There is something within the human mind, particularly that of males, that thirsts for the raw violence of hand-to-hand combat. While "Fight Club" articulated the psychology of the male desire for blood-sport better than perhaps any other film, countless movies have been made on the subject of fighting.

Jake Tyler (Sean Faris) is the new kid at an Orlando high school. Coming with him is his reputation for being a strong and aggressive fighter, a fact evidenced in the opening sequence during a conflict that arose in the middle of a football game. Thanks to the wonders of YouTube, Tyler's football brawl was available for all to see, including the students of his new high school. Tyler attends a party at the behest of Baja Miller (Amber Heard), only to be bullied into a one-on-one match with Ryan McCarthy (Cam Gigandet), the reigning champion at an annual underground fighting tournament called The BeatDown. Tyler takes quite a beating and enlists the services of Jean Roquoa (Djimon Hounsou), a professional trainer and veteran fighter. But Tyler has demons in his past that he must overcome before he can take on McCarthy.

"Never Back Down" is riddled with clichés and overused cinematic devices. The story is about as predictable as one would expect. If you have seen the trailers and TV spots for the movie, then you essentially know what the movie is about and could probably guess the ending. Having said that, "Never Back Down" is not a terrible movie. To its credit, it has some considerable depth for a teen fight flick. Tyler's struggles with responsibility and anger are not overly dramatized nor do they ooze with insincere sentimentality.

Hounsou does an excellent job with his character, as always, although the presence of an actor of his caliber in a film such as this is somewhat unexpected. His role as the sage and world-weary martial arts teacher adds extra depth to the film in such a manner that it could not have achieved any other way.

The film makes a weak attempt at a neo-realist style of photography similar to that used in "Friday Night Lights" and "The Office," but director Jeff Wadlow simply does not have the artistic sense to pull it off properly. Fortunately, the "cinema-verite" shots are kept to a minimum.

The soundtrack is populated almost exclusively by mainstream rock acts such as 12 Stones, Papa Roach, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Trapt.

In a lot of ways, "Never Back Down" is a combination of "Step Up 2" meets "Rocky" meets "Fight Club," with perhaps one or two exceptions - none of the characters, major or minor, are without a perfect body. Given Orlando as the movie's location, everyone has more than enough excuses to spend half the movie in bikinis and surf shorts, so the film has enough eye candy to keep just about everyone occupied. "Never Back Down" is little more than one would expect from another teen flick, but if all you're looking for is some decent fight scenes peopled with hot girls and buff guys, "Never Back Down" will most likely not disappoint. Otherwise, you can probably afford to miss this one.

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