Never Back Down - Combattimento letale

Much like the first movie this revolves around a bunch of guys trying to prove themselves, but unlike the first this is multi-starrer. But all the expectations can be kicked out within a few minutes into the movie. Bad acting by all of them (except for Michael White),no proper background to the characters, the characters aren't developed enough, lack of emotion and a few other traits add up to a very disappointing watch. You feel like you are just sitting there seeing a bunch of characters in scene after scene just stringed together. In some particular instances the movie makes no sense what so ever. The first movie was filled with emotions creating a reason for Jake Tyler(Sean Farris) to fight his way into the beatdown,but here it just a group of guys swearing at an alarming rate fighting each other. There are a few saving graces though, like the training sessions where you can see some insane work-out methods. All in all an average movie.

This so-called sequel to "Never Back Down" actually got nothing to do with it, and it's so bad. The 2008 original is about 100 times better than this one, because it focused on just one young man's emotional journey. But the screenplay of this so-called sequel is so bad and so lame. The casting was also not too good with 4 uninteresting young actors and one very bad female one.

Unless he could find a very strong script and with better casting, MJW should stay away from directing, 'cause it's not good enough.

If this movie was released in theaters, I'd walk out after 30 minutes. Time is not on MJW's side and favored him like before since he's pushing 50,he's gaining weight and his torso looks so pumped up as a middle aged guy.

For an action movie then this was as predictable as they come. Yep, it is one of those movies where an underdog receives a short period of training in martial arts, then rises to the occasion and wins despite impossible odds against many other well-trained combatants.

Story-wise then "Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown" was rather generic and similar to many other similar movies before it. Actually it was almost a frame-by-frame copy of the first movie.

What makes the movie somewhat worthy watching is the fight during the actual Beatdown event, but it doesn't take place before well over an hour into the movie. The rest of the movie was just, sorry to say, a rather mundane story.

As for the acting, well I will say that it was adequate for the particular genre that it is. Just don't get your hopes up for academy award winning performances.

This sequel is a blatant and unnecessary remake of the first "Never Back Down" movie, to the point where it was embarrassing to bear witness to. It wasn't a continuation or anything, and sure it was with other characters, but the plot and storyline was a copy and paste job that was made so hastily.

"Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown" is a mediocre action movie experience, although it does show some impressive fighting skills from Michael Jai White. It might be worth a watch if you enjoy fighting movies that is driven by the action and a solid storyline is left far behind in its wake.

The first "Never Back Down" was a MTV inspired version of "Karate Tiger meets Beverly Hills 90210" with a lot of good looking kids (Amber Heard being one of them), some nice fight and training sequences and tons of bad acting and a cheesy script. Never Back Down 2 offers more of the same. Instead of suffering trough the "emotional journey" of one character, the focus is on 4 of them, everyone's motivations and storyline being a thin as the piece of paper, that one characters is hitting for 80 minutes (don't ask, watch it and you'll know). However the fights and training montages are great (especially the sequences with MJW, moving impressively fluid for a guy of his size, and the rad capoeira dances of Meraz) and MJW is as charismatic as ever in this underwritten role as a mentor with a troubled past. Overall the movie is enjoyable if you're not expecting too much and are a fan of MMA-related movies or of cheesy, "so bad that it's fun" 80's karate flicks.

I never saw NEVER BACK DOWN, but this sequel features Michael Jai White so it was a must see for me. Four kids from varied backgrounds get training advice from down-on-his-luck former MMA star and now ex-con Case Walker (White). You have Tim (former UFC fighter Todd Duffee), a college student trying to help make ends meet for his single mom; Zack (Alex Meraz), a former boxer who just had a humiliating loss that resulted in a career ending eye injury; Justin (Scottie Epstein), the comic book geek looking to get revenge on the guys who beat him up; and Mike (Dean Geyer), a college freshman wrestler who falls for Zack's girl and is dealing with the fact that his father left his mom for another man (really!). Can you guess which character ends up going rogue and using his violent tools for bad? They all learn how to enhance their previous skills (boxing, wrestling) in order to become well-rounded mixed martial artists for the upcoming Beatdown show produced by Max (Evan Peters, apparently the only connection to the first film).

Heading direct-to-video, this sequel apparently hits all the same notes as the first film. The drama, for the most part, is very standard stuff, although I did find Case's personal history to be well down. In addition to the lead role as the trainer, Jai White also made his directorial debut here. The man definitely knows his martial arts and should be commended for not only the (mostly) realistic action and training, but also imparting some wisdom in terms of the discipline's mental aspects (watch for a funny bit where he quotes Bruce Lee). He seems to have learned a lot from directors like Isaac Florentine and doesn't cheat during the brawls. It also helps that he had Epstein, who is a black belt in jiu-jitsu, and Eddie Bravo, former UFC commentator and inventor of the rubber guard at 10th Planet, serving as technical consultants for the fights. Of course, you have to take the good with the bad and there are also some more "cinematic" fights. White also has a bizarre love for montages featuring the blandest of generic white boy rock. The acting is pretty good all-around, with surprisingly strong performances from martial artists Epstein and Duffee. I say that after nearly two decades of watching MMA fighters embarrass themselves on film. Look for current UFC light heavyweight Lyoto Machida in a small role as himself.