Bullet Points: Never Back Down

If MTV were in the action movie business, their movies would probably resemble 2008’s mixed martial arts flick, Never Back Down.

MMA and MTV don’t seem liked they’d be a good match. In fact, the MTV vibe would be completely out of place in 2016’s Never Back Down: No Surrender, with real life tough guy Josh Barnett, legit action star Michael Jai White and the monstrous baddie Nathan Jones grounding and pounding.

But the MTV vibe worked perfectly for the movie that started the franchise, because Never Back Down features some very aggressive high schoolers in Orlando. I’m not exactly sure why so many kids in a place with beautiful weather all year long have taken to organizing their own mixed martial arts fights… perhaps the constant flow of tourists to their fair city has them angry. Or maybe they are just a bunch of spoiled kids with nothing better to do than fight and post the videos online.

• Exposition: Sean Faris plays Jake Tyler. Jake is a young man living in Iowa and haunted by the drunk driving death of his father. It is a death Jake feels responsible for since he allowed his father to get behind the wheel that fateful night even though Jake knew his dad was in no condition to drive. Jake hopes to get a fresh start on life as he, his mother and his younger brother Charlie move to Orlando, Florida. But video of a fight that Jake got in during his last high school football game in Iowa hits the Internet and he quickly attracts the attention of some of the students at Jake’s new high school.

• Betrayal: The first person to approach Jake about his fighting skills is wanna be fighter Max Cooperman. While Jake turns down Max’s offer to get in on the MMA action that is sweeping this particular high school, the two eventually become friends. But while Jake is able to turn down Max’s invite, he can’t turn down an invitation to a party from the hot chick in his English class, Baja Miller (played by Amber Heard of Drive Angry fame). The party turns out to be a glorified setup. Baja’s boyfriend, Ryan McCarthy (Cam Gigandet) is not only the alpha male of the school, but also the alpha male of the widespread teenage MMA scene in Orlando, Florida. Not only is Ryan those two things, Ryan is also a world class jerk. Ryan uses peer pressure and the information about the death of Jake’s father he found on the Internet to goad Jake into fighting him in front of everyone at the party, and let me tell you anybody who is anybody was at that party. This was the type of party I would not have been invited to when I was in high school, but I digress. Jake has some great boxing skills and can throw one hell of a punch, but he is humiliated by Ryan, who uses his years of mixed martial arts training to stun, befuddle and hand Jake’s own ass to him. Jake is both beaten and betrayed.

• Back to School: After Jake’s utter humiliation, Max convinces Jake to come down to the gym he trains at known as 365 Combat Club. The trainer there is Brazil’s own Jean Roqua. Roqua, who as the story goes trained with the Gracies at one point, is played by Djimon Hounsou of Furious 7 fame. Wouldn’t you know, Jake takes to his MMA training like a fish to water. Finally, Jake is able to channel some of his anger into something positive but unfortunately for Jake, he screws up and violates the first rule of Combat Club… Don’t talk about Combat Club There is absolutely no fighting outside of the club. One day after practice, Jake gets involved in a road rage incident and Jake beats the crap out of four guys right in the middle of the street. This flagrant disregard for the first rule of Combat Club gets Jake thrown out by Roqua and it seems like Jake will never get a chance at redemption against that jerk Ryan McCarthy.

• Enlightenment: They say it is always darkest before the dawn and that saying rings true for Jake Tyler. After he convinces Roqua to let him back into the 365 Combat Club, Jake is ready to continue his training and is even willing to let his issues with Ryan go (and why not at this point he’s already stolen Baja from Ryan). But Jake’s decision to let his beef with Ryan go and never again violate the first rule of Combat Club means Jake won’t be competing in The Beat Down Tournament. The Beat Down Tournament features the best high school aged MMA fighters in the area (and let me remind you that there are tons of high school aged MMA fighters in Orlando at this time). When Ryan learns that Jake won’t be fighting, he pulls one of the oldest tricks in the dick move handbook, when he and some of his boys beat the living shit out of Jake’s buddy Max… yes folks it looks like Jake Tyler is going to be forced to fight!

Now if you are sitting there thinking that Jake beats Ryan in the finals of The Beat Down Tournament, you would be wrong. For every fight movie cliche Never Back Down throws at the audience, it also manages to throw in some swerves too so there are more than a few detours on Jake’s journey.

And speaking of Jake, Sean Faris is convincing as the angst riddled Jake Tyler, a young man you can’t help but pull for. Then there’s Cam Gigandet. If Cam is not a smug asshole in real life, he was one hell of an actor because I wanted to see Ryan McCarthy get his clock cleaned. And if I’m talking about the cast I have to mention Amber Heard. Amber is hot and probably reason enough to watch the movie at least once in your lifetime.

But if you need a few more reasons to watch the movie that kicked off the Never Back Down franchise, check out these bonus Bullet Points…

• Montages: If you are a fan of training montages, Never Back Down’s montage game is strong.
• Inspirational Quote: “Never give up. Never back down.” – Jean Roqua
• Flip Phones: If you are fan of nostalgic technology, Never Back Down’s flip phone game is strong.