![]() ![]() Like a dedicated student rising through the ranks of martial arts, the Never Back Down series reaches its stride with No Surrender. White once again directs, and the spotlight is much more centered on Case this time, but he still functions as a mentor in his own story, and not just for the wayward Brody in his initially lax attitude towards the fight with Braga. The third film in the franchise sees Case agrees to travel to Thailand to help his old friend Brody James, played by real-life MMA fighter Josh Barnett, train for an upcoming fight against the merciless Ceasar Braga, played by Nathan Jones, well-known as Rictus Erectus, the son of Immortan Joe in Mad Max: Fury Road. Not unlike White's earlier involvement in Undisputed 2: Last Man Standing, Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown is the point where the MMA-centric franchise really took off, also establishing a new training montage classic with For The Taking's "Time Is Running Out" along the way in its stand-out pre-Beatdown montage.įollowing The Beatdown, Case Walker has made a full return to the MMA world in Never Back Down: No Surrender. Though primarily a mentor, Case doesn't sit on the sidelines either, seen in a set-piece right out of a Jackie Chan movie with Case fighting off the aforementioned bad cops with both hands cuffed after being framed for a parole violation. The action scenes, orchestrated by Larnell Stovall, are also outstanding, especially when the Beatdown finally arrives and the knowledge each of Case's students has gained comes into play. Case specifically constructs each student's training around their weak points, and his instruction to Dean Geyer's Mike Stokes to punch a sheet of paper until he can puncture it with his knuckles is an ongoing challenge that the film pays off marvelously at the end. In both its training and fight sequences, The Beatdown fully surpasses its predecessor. While details of his past are kept more in the background, the film makes clear that his main goal is simply to start his life over, his efforts regularly exploited by some racist cops. Case's own history is also a central pillar to the film as both a one-time rising star in the MMA world and a former prisoner trying to follow the rules of his parole. The returning Evan Peters sets up connective tissue with the first movie as the always energetic Max, while the film fully invests the viewer in the each of the four main students' stories. The Beatdown focuses on four young men, respectively portrayed by Dean Geyer, Alexa Meraz, and real-life MMA fighters Todd Duffee and Scott Epstein (their fellow MMA fighter Lyoto Machida also drops in for a cameo), training under the tutelage of former MMA champ Case Walker, played by White, who also made his directorial debut with the film. In the '90s, "straight-to-video sequel" might've been a term synonymous with "kiss of death." By 2011 however, at least when it comes to action movies, such a transition had begun to look more like an upgrade, and Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown, the directorial debut of martial arts movie veteran Michael Jai White, is certainly a shining example of that. While lacking the rock music-filled training montages and paced with fewer action scenes for its first two-thirds, Revolt also has a fitting sinister feel in its descent into the dark underbelly of the underground fighting world. Revolt feels at once the same and different from its three predecessors. As the most standalone entry in the Never Back Down series, Revolt does a good job of setting the stakes high as it ventures into a story akin to the Bloodsport underground tournament franchise, especially on its low budget and the pandemic era-challenges director Kellie Madison had to coordinate the film through. Unfortunately, Anya discovers on her arrival that it’s actually an underground competition where young women are kidnapped and forced to fight for betting millionaires. Anya’s own fighting skill impresses fight promoter Mariah (Brooke Johnston), and earns her a spot in a tournament in Rome with the promise of wiping the debt clean. After aspiring MMA fighter Aslan (Tommy Bastow) refuses to throw a fight, he puts himself and his sister Anya (Olivia Popica) in hot water and deep debt. With Never Back Down: Revolt, the Never Back Down franchise follows the trajectory of the Best of the Best series, stepping into darker and deadlier territory with its fourth chapter.
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