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Never Back Down

A Karate Kid ripoff
By MARK BAZER  |  March 12, 2008
1.5 1.5 Stars
Never_Back_Down_inside
Never Back Down

A ripoff of The Karate Kid, director Jeff Wadlow’s Never Back Down differs in one crucial respect: instead of karate, the top activity at high schools these days seems to be beating the shit out of each other. Jake (Sean Faris), a high-school football player from Ohio, moves to decadent Florida after his dad kills himself driving drunk. Jake has father issues; any mention of his dad makes him want to beat the shit out of somebody. But he’s not as good at beating the shit out of somebody as the Rich Douchebag (Cam Gigandet), who has it in for Jake (especially after Jake steals his girl!) and who has father issues. So Jake starts training, with the help of a Foreigner (Djimon Hounsou), who has father issues. The Foreigner teaches Jake that fighting for revenge accomplishes nothing. But then everybody realizes that this is silly and that Jake better get his butt over to the Beatdown to settle things once and for all. You’ll root for Jake. You will! 110 minutes | Boston Common + Fenway + Fresh Pond + Circle + suburbs
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  Topics: Reviews , Sports , Martial Arts , Cam Gigandet ,  More more >
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ARTICLES BY MARK BAZER
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  •   SOUL MEN  |  November 05, 2008
    Plot and crass jokes aside, it's a feel-good film
  •   FILTH AND WISDOM  |  October 27, 2008
    An annoying mish-mash
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    Outdated, passable entertainment
  •   IGOR  |  September 16, 2008
    Hard to gauge which children this film is for — if any
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    A vulgar, witless depiction of college

 See all articles by: MARK BAZER

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