Never Back Down Reviews

Never Back Down Reviews

Never Back Down is a film about a teen football star who moves to a new town after his father's accidental death, gets bullied, and decides to fight back. With the help of a veteran fighter, he prepares to take on the local martial arts champion. He battles the champion for the love of a girl. The winner of the "Beatdown" has a chance to win her heart.

Rotten Tomatoes gave the 22 percent freshness rating and noted the film "Faithfully adheres to every imaginable fight movie cliche". Metacritic averaged its score at 40 (out of a possible 100).

Fast Facts

Release Date: March 14, 2008
Director: Jeff Wadlow
Writer: Chris Hauty
Starring: Djimon Hounsou, Amber Heard, Sean Faris, Cam Gigandet and Evan Peters
Run time: 106 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13

Reviews Excerpts

"cockeyed platitude that crops up throughout Never Back Down, a teen martial arts movie so inane it makes its obvious progenitor, The Karate Kid, look like something written by Confucius himself" -BBC
"In the future, movies this derivative will be made by robots." -Onion A.V. Club
"...There's no way this unlikely hybrid of The Karate Kid and Fight Club could set your hopes lower without scraping the Mariana Trench>" -Village Voice

Categories

Movies | Movie Reviews

| View Note History

The Mahalo Top 7

Rotten Tomatoes: Never Back Down Reviews
Metacritic.com: Never Back Down Reviews
Variety: Never Back Down Review (March 13, 2008)
The Hollywood Reporter: Never Back Down Review (March 14, 2008)
The New York Times: Never Back Down Review (March 14, 2008)
IMDb: Never Back Down External Reviews
YouTube Video: Never Back Down Trailer (Time: 2:34)

Never Back Down Reviews (Good)

TV Guide: Never Back Down Review
- "This unlikely hybrid of The Karate Kid (1984) and Fight Club (1999) is formulaic and derivative, but sufficiently well made to work as both teen-angst melodrama and bone-rattling brawl picture."

Village Voice: Never Back Down: Better Than It Needs to Be (March 11, 2008)
- "...the engaging cast looks like a portfolio of future stars—especially Faris, a buff beefcake who's self-effacing enough to make a credible underdog—and the bone-jarring fight scenes rock as hard as they're shot and cut."

Cinematical: Never Back Down Review
- "Never Back Down is flashy, flimsy and disposable, but it's made with craft and care, and it delivers exactly what you knew you were going to get when you made the decision to buy the ticket."

Never Back Down Reviews (Bad)

Los Angeles Times: Never Back Down Review
- "...a bash-athon for boneheads that aspires to be the Fast and the Furious of the mixed martial arts set."

Chicago Tribune (2/4): Never Back Down Review
- "...may be the most bloodthirsty revenge picture since "Walking Tall""

A.V. Club (C): Never Back Down Review
- "In the future, movies this derivative will be made by robots."

ReelViews (2/4): Never Back Down Review
- "If the purpose of a movie like this is to recycle a stock plot and present it unchanged with different actors going through the motions and mouthing lame dialogue, then Never Back Down does what it's intended to do..."

washingtonpost.com: Never Back Down Review
- ""Never Back Down" is teensploitation at its most obvious -- a boneheaded cliche-rama built around six-pack-ab standoffs between preening studs."

Related Pages on Mahalo

Never Back Down | Djimon Hounsou | Fight Club | Sleepover | Amber Heard | Sean Faris | Cam Gigandet | Leslie Hope

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