He never faces any negative consequences. Instead of being charged with assault, Jake becomes a local hero as rumors of his strength circulate throughout the school.
Here’s the kicker, though: At one point Jake randomly beats up a bunch of strangers on the side of the road because they honked their car horn one too many times. Oh, sure, it tries to go all noble on us by giving each brawler a painful back stories, usually involving the absence of a good father figure (maybe there’s a connection somewhere).
The biggest problem with “Never Back Down” is that, at its core, the movie is advocating hardcore fighting as an acceptable and necessary means of solving problems. After a while, all the fighting starts to look the same. Thanks to sloppy editing, suspense never builds during the brawls. Then again, the fight scenes aren’t good, either. Perhaps it’s not fair to judge “Never Back Down” by its plot, since the film was only intended to be a showcase for mixed martial arts fighting. If the entire movie had consisted of Hounsou exploding in sweaty rage at all the other whiny characters, it would be one of the greatest films ever created. As the owner of the local gym, the Oscar-nominated actor shows why he’s the best guy around for playing tough, angry men. It helps that the “wise grasshopper” role is played by Djimon Hounsou (“Blood Diamond”). but, of course, it becomes a matter of honor, and he decides that maybe, just maybe, he can take Ryan down. After being humiliated in front of the entire school, he swears he will never fight again. Unsurprisingly, the inexperienced Jake gets the crap kicked out of him by local d-bag Ryan (Cam Gigandet, “Who’s Your Caddy?”). But don’t call them “fight clubs” because that term is probably trademarked. It’s at the party where Jake discovers the true passion of rich Orlando teens: secret underground fighting leagues where shirtless lads engage in homoerotic, no-holds-barred brawling. She soon invites him to one crazy house party, complete with all the half-naked girls and “teen partying” that a PG-13 rating will allow. Suddenly, he’s the new kid in school and immediately attracts the attention of an attractive girl named Baja – yes, Baja (Amber Heard, “Alpha Dog”). During this, Ryan twice slams Jake down hard onto a car hood, and then onto the hard pavement, while also hitting him in his already injured and sore ribs. We’ve got a tough pretty-boy with anger issues named Jake Tyler (Sean Faris, “Yours, Mine and Ours”), who moves with his family from Iowa to Orlando. Jake and Ryan fight in a parking lot, exchanging blows (punches, kicks and such).