Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown (2011) Reviews

• Bad Movie!

  varunvurt2012-06-01

  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.

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• middle of the road....

  dangermous2011-08-30

  hot chick or 2, fights were OK but not as good as the first film except for the fight where Michael Jai White is hand cuffed and fights off 4 or 5 police men showing his agility. there was some character development but not much, clumsy dialogue - not a lot of complete or realistic conversations, mildly entertaining though i wouldn't watch it twice like you can with some classic martial arts films. Some big plot holes like how a teenage boxer became a mix martial arts fighter with only a few weeks training....... hopefully kids out there don't think that's realistic! they all looked a bit young for MMA - kind of boyband MMA haha the faults aside it was likable and i was entertained!

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• Teenage Karate Tiger 2

  joerg-nezmeskal2011-08-27

  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.

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• Proof that potential means nothing.

  kingstonhawke2012-03-27

  The business side of movie-making dictates that the wider you cast your net, the more money you will make in return. This movie should be shown to anyone who subscribes to that theory as a cautionary tale. They literally tried to jam pack so many "can't miss" fight movie clichés into the script that by the end it sort of feels like Scary Movie 5 or something. I'm not even joking, it starts out solid, but half way through the movie when you notice they are just going to keep adding new story lines instead of developing the ones they've started I started scratching my head. Especially since the movie did just enough to not be rated PG-13. Literally, they could've deleted one flashing scene and not cursed so much and it probably would've been PG. I'm probably giving this movie a 5 only because my expectations were so low to begin with. If I'd of paid money and waited months to see this movie, I'd be irate! Especially since it could've been great if they'd of just scaled it back a bit. Having Todd Duffee in the movie may have seemed like a cool idea. But his WHOLE storyline is pointless and seems like an addition after the script was turned in. And that's on top of the fact that he's a garbage actor. You cut that WHOLE storyline, and devote that energy to further developing the two main characters stories and the movie may have been good enough to go to theaters. The ending needed changing as well. I'm guessing they were over budget and just needed to wrap things because it feels extremely rushed and anti-climatic. Hello... no one thinks the bad guy is going to win in this kind of movie, so how about not relying on selling us on that, and instead doing something dramatic. Bad guy should've sucker punched the boxer with the messed up eye, and the wrestler should've taken his revenge using something he learned and won the tourney. Pretty much the ending to Gladiator. In closing. If you're looking for a serious movie with substance, save your time. If you're an MMA fan that just wants to see some cool fighting, then maybe watch this movie if nothing else is on.

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• What a waste of time....

  unitedcba2011-08-26

  Never Back Down 2 (2011) | My Rating☛ 5/10 Director: Michael Jai White Writer: Chris Hauty Stars: Stacey Asaro, Gralen Bryant Banks and Rus Blackwell 103 min- Action What a waste of time....There was nothing in this movie other than Michael Jai White one single fight with the cops. Acting was way below than one could imagine except Michael Jai White. As far as Michael Jai White debut Direction he was OK but still a long way to go. The story goes like this Four fighters different backgrounds come together to train under an ex MMA rising star (Michael Jai White) and then ultimately have to fight each other and the traitor in heir midst. This movie can only be tolerated by those who love to see anything called "action" and die hard fan of MJW. Rest of the people plz don't bother to see.

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