The Fighters 3 - No Surrender

1. Big fan of Michael Jai White, which I made clear in my other reviews, especially Blood and Bone, which is a must-see. Called him "the most under-utilized MMA asset in Hollywood."

2. Guess he got tired of waiting for a phone call, because MJW as "director" cast himself in Never Back Down 2 which, for a low budget effort, was a really tight little indie and seems to have given his career a well-deserved second (third?) wind.

3. At 48 years young, MJW is 15 years younger than Steven Seagal, who keeps cranking out Direct To Video productions that should more correctly be called Direct-to-Forget. Except that MJW looks ten years younger than he actually is, and SS looks ten years older than he actually is.

4. This film, NBD3, is unlike anything MJW has done before and even unlike NBD2. It can be considered MJW's personal version of Rocky. (And of course has virtually no connection to NBD1 other than the name.) The script is slow in spots but contains sly humor one does not usually find in these sorts of films. The fight scenes totally rock and there is a new "trope" that MJW (as director) seems to have invented that involves "forecasting" a fight just before it happens, using slo-mo shot in Black and White. Cool!

5. There are two very strange cameos by Tony Jaa and Rampage Jackson which I am still trying to figure out. Ditto for another walk-on by a female Thai martial artist who looked like she weighs 75 pounds soaking wet. And the "big finish" for the story is taken straight from the playbook in Red Belt, another great (and overlooked) MMA film.

RECOMMENDED (!) as both solid entertainment and something different and unexpected. And please remember to see Blood and Bone and NBD2 if you have not already. Also rec Bronson in 1975's HARD TIMES.

Good movie with good story, a well climax and a necessary dose to action lovers. White is appointed to train his friend for an big MMA fight with Psycho Caeser. After many dramatic turns finally White fights with Caeser before final ring. The story is so in short, Directed by White. Also acted his girlfriend's role by his real wife Gillian White. A cameo by Tony Jaa at climax at least me cheering up to see him because I am big fan of him from 'Ong Bak". And also fan of White for his perfect and electrified martial arts skill. Here he also gives lessons how to fight and how to train yourself in martial art is a appreciated part of the movie. I like this one. Jeeja Yanin also have a small role to impress us (Lady Tony Jaa in 'Chocolate'). Actually this is second movie which I saw after ' Million Dollar Baby' on focusing in details on how to fight perfectly. Good attempt by White. He must be thankful for this and I am waiting for his such movies in future. Some viewers think this is 80's movie( due to Karate) but those martial arts ( like Karate, Wushu etc.) never loose its charm and will be ever fresh in every period of time till the art of fighting unarmed will live.

What a nice surprise. Michael Jai White did excellent work. He managed to refrain from unnecessary Hollywood-overkill and instead just told a story that flows nicely and rewards the viewer with some spectacular fight scenes. It's actually a bit understated. A rare thing to find these days. I'll give you an example. During the finale of Hard Target 2 all I could think of was: My God, does the shooting never stop? What could have just been a gritty survivalist martial arts movie, had to be made into an over-the-top action vehicle. But it didn't look like the production crew had the money or experience to pull their ideas off. It just ends up looking disappointing. Thankfully, Michael Jai White had no illusions about his project.

Not everything about this movie was top notch. But it just seemed to work for me. I got exactly what I needed. And maybe you will too. I hope MJW will be involved in many more good projects like this one.

And that is just friendly advice. You do know that villains never think they'll back down. Until they do, then they not only think it, they actually do it. But apart from the obvious and the predictability what else is there? The fight scenes of course and they are pretty well staged. Though that shouldn't be surprising if you have seen Michael Jai Whites previous work before.

Characters try to shine through, but not every beat of the story or of their development works well. It means well, but that doesn't always go down that well. Well enough of that, because most likely you watch this or consider watching this because of the action involved and there you won't be disappointed (unless you expect Tony Jaa ... wait he also is in it. But just in a cameo role! More juice and fight is in the "Chocolate" star, also getting a short appearance in this).

So while I haven't seen the previous Never Back Down, this is based on, you can watch it and still enjoy it too

I avoided this movie for awhile due to the massive and disappointing failure which was Never Back Down 2. Outside of Michael Jai White and them bringing back Evan Peters I found literally zero traits redeeming about it and literally hated the movie.

Back to Never Back Down 3, I actually enjoyed the movie and thought it was worlds better the second one. However with that said, this one was far from perfect.

First outside of Esai Morales who I thought was phenomenal in his role. The acting and dialogue was painfully brutal. Another problem I had with this film is the pacing is extremely inconsitent. Lastly the movie had a lot of subplots that literally added no value and went nowhere.

There were a lot of good redeeming traits though. The action was very good, the visuals were decent for movie on this low of a budget, and it contained just enough emotion to keep the viewer engaged to what was going on and the characters.

I would nevertheless though, only recommend this film to die hard Michael Jai White or mma fans. I can't find the average viewer getting any enjoyment out of this otherwise.