Never Back Down: No Surrender

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.

This is absolutely a paint-by-numbers martial arts competition flick, and standard fare for fans of its star, Michael Jai White. Or JCVD; or Scott Adkins, et. al. But after you've slogged through the main body of the production, the climactic sequence nets you a big overall win for your temporal investment. That reward begins with a truly unique and amusing cameo as a lead-in to the inevitable Big Fight all the typical character arcs and tepid dialog have been setting up. Often it ain't about what they do, but how they do it. Coffee for the closers.

The first conclusion is more than simple - Michael Jai White deserved his movie from Never Back Down series and the last minutes of preview part suggested very clear the birth of this one.

In same measure, more than martial art , a good point of this film is the try to create a coherent story, from romance to the rvalries conciliated by common interest, different fight styles . And , sure, different relation with antagonist.

And exactly this effort to offer more than fair option for fights fans gives some value to this film who is correct crafted, interesting acted and has not so bad dialogues ( or plot ).

In short , a surprising nice work , more serious than pretext for impressive kickboxing scenes.

I enjoyed a lot the first one back then, surprisingly even tough it had an Hollywood cast and was very commercial i loved it. Amber Heard... oh boy... lol. The second one came as a good surprise and i enjoyed it again a damn lot. The character of Case Walker was good but so was the other ones as well.

It was inevitable that the third movie would focus on Case, after all Michael Jai White is a huge name in the martial art style and the story of the kids from the second movie was wrapped up.

So when the trailer drop, i was a bit surprised. I mean it didn't looked as good as i had in mind for the next step in Case Walker story. But after having seen the movie, i do feel the movie is a lot better than the trailer. By a lot. Good action, solid character development, the story is engaging even tough a bit less personal than in previous movies. Non the less Michael Jai White make it work super great. The only thing that people may have a grip with, just like i do, is that the movie lacks a great antagonist. The battle is not personal on that level. I don't want to go into a spoiler review so i will not say more, but lets just say that the focus in clearly on the main characters and there relationship together. He does work very good tough.

In the end i had a ton of fun with that movie, its movies like that i am waiting for and i welcome so much the release once in a while. Its like 90s kickboxing movies goodness but at the same time with better direction, better acting, betting production value as a whole.

I do not know the budget for this movie, but for a direct to DVD (not even blu ray, at least here in Quebec) its damn impressive what they accomplished. Fans of martial art action, give it a shot for sure.

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.