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Never Back Down (M, 113mins) Directed by Jeff Wadlow **
It’s hard not to mention Fight Club when talking about this 2008 movie, because it is essentially a teen Fight Club with all the subtlety removed.
Known throughout Iowa for his tough-tackling defence on the football field, Jake Tyler (Sean Faris) has something of a reputation as a brawler. Haunted by seeing his father’s alcohol-fuelled death, Jake’s anger-management issues have seen him kicked out of two schools and picked up by police six times.
However, he has a chance to make a fresh start when his little brother earns a tennis scholarship to Orlando, Florida. However, his best attempts to keep his nose clean are dashed when he stumbles into an underground fight club at the school.
Led by the charismatic Ryan McCarthy (Cam Gigandet), these no-holds-barred slug fests attract crowds and significantly impact on participants’ social standing. Everyone has already seen what Jake can do on YouTube and everyone is keen to take their shot.
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It’s not only Fight Club that this flick draws inspiration from. Viewers of a certain age will notice similarities to seminal 1980s martial-arts movie The Karate Kid, especially with its central troika of troubled kid, mysterious mentor (here a Senegalese trainer played by Djimon Hounsou) and sneering bad guy.
Fans of the noughties teen dance movie craze – Step Up 2, Stomp the Yard – will also notice writer Chris Hauty’s plot follows the same scenario of outsider wants to be accepted, gets into trouble, tries to win the big tournament, which seems to be a staple of that genre. Obviously, this is aimed at capturing the part of the demographic that considers dancing a bit girly or “ethnic”.
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Viewers of a certain age will notice similarities to seminal 1980s martial-arts movie The Karate Kid, especially with its central troika of troubled kid, mysterious mentor and sneering bad guy.
Director Wadlow also isn’t afraid of drawing on the same themes inherent in his last outing, Cry Wolf. Once again we have a troubled teen relocating to rich-kid central and getting involved in anti-social behaviour. And once again Wadlow does his best to keep a tired-looking format looking fresh with plenty of camera trickery and CSI-style anatomy lessons to liven up the fight scenes.
Unfortunately, his good work is undermined by the cast’s perfect teeth – despite repeated punches to the jaw – and his over-use of slo-mos for big hits, especially when the movie is supposed to have some kind of anti-violence message. An indictment of the Florida state school system, the film will also upset fans of Mixed Martial Arts, which is as frequently name-checked, as it is horribly distorted.
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Sean Faris plays Jake Tyler in Never Back Down.
The driving soundtrack, which includes songs by My Chemical Romance, Limp Bizkit and Kanye West, is appealing if not exactly subtle, while YouTube and its brethren will be happy with their extensive product placement, to the likely despair of high-school principals everywhere even 15 years on.
Never Back Down is now available to stream on Netflix.
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