Oh, how all the
far-left critics will be crying out about how Never Back Down
is an immoral picture that celebrates the violence of revenge!
(These, of course, are the same folks who said that Kill Bill
was a-Okay for the kiddies to watch because it was too
“unrealistic” for them to take seriously.) Indeed, Never Back
Down is a movie that ultimately justifies the
“eye-for-an-eye” philosophy. Unlike my fellow reviewers,
however, I don’t have any gripes with this. The real problem
with the movie —the one that everybody seems to be ignoring—is
that it indulges in exactly what it preaches against: the very
senseless violence that causes its protagonist to seek
revenge. Never Back Down is a motion picture of the
utmost degree of hypocrisy; it decries the blood and bruises
shed in its story’s many underground-fight sequences, but turns
a blind eye when these are positively glamorized by the flashy
visuals implemented by director Jeff Wadlow.
I hate to be
the guy lecturing about morals and ethics in film—is it really
my place as one who merely wants to enjoy the pictures he
sees?—but the task seems an obligatory one here. Never Back
Down seems innocent enough at first glance, indulging in
same politics of high school-drama as most other teen-targeted
fare. In this very benign state, however, the movie plays
mind-tricks on viewers who turn their brains off for its
110-minute duration. Part of the danger of Never Back Down
is that it rarely ever appears to be coming off as a
message-movie, and yet it (consciously or unconsciously)
vocalizes a rather militant agenda. Sure, the movie’s main
character, Jake Tyler (Sean Faris), may just want to beat up his
high school’s token asshole, Cam (Ryan McCarthy), in order to
gain the right to steal Cam’s über-hot girlfriend Baja (Amber
Heard). But it takes a lot of punches for Jake to get to his
ultimate destination. Even though he is learning the principles
of non-violence from mixed-martial-arts trainer Jean Roqua (Djimon
Honsou) along the way, the movie never reflects this. Jake may
never intend to harm anybody on his path to revenge, but the
viewer certainly sees him inflicting both physical and emotional
pain on countless others.
As citizens of
a movie-going society, we must realize that something is wrong
when a studio wants us to watch a movie for its violence.
As much I realize that this statement is rife for
misinterpretation, I also know that it needs to be said. (In
other words, just because Chigurh killed people with an air-gun
in No Country for Old Men and Buffalo Bill skinned women
in The Silence of the Lambs doesn’t mean we watch those
films to revel in their violent qualities.) No matter what sense
of morality Never Back Down may think it holds, the movie
bombards its viewers with shot after shot of violent imagery,
practically asking them to scream “That’s so cool!” after any
character, good or bad, lands a punch. (Oh, and did I mention
that it somehow managed to earn a PG-13 rating?) Realizing this,
maybe the politically-correct, non-violent left-wingers of the
world are right in this particular instance. Could writer Chris
Hauty and director Wadlow possibly have accomplished what I
wished they had done by depicting all violence other than that
of the film’s final showdown as having a negative effect?
Perhaps it’s just too hard to restrain such an urge in
Hollywood. For this reason, Never Back Down is a film
that’s worth boycotting. And because Sean Faris can’t act his
way out of a paper-bag. Can’t forget that.
-Danny Baldwin,
Bucket Reviews
Review Published
on: 3.20.2008
Screened on:
3.18.2008 at the Krikorian Vista Village Metroplex 15 in Vista,
CA.
Never Back Down is rated PG-13 and runs
113 minutes.
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