Guest Blogger: Alex 2

Never Back Down is a character based movie that I became a big fan of after the first time I watched it. It is about a high school kid named Jake Tyler that is first living in Iowa who is living with the guilt of his father’s death after he let him drive home drunk instead of taking the keys; his father crashed the car which killed him, but Jake came out unharmed. After this incident he begins to get into trouble with fighting and the altercation that causes his mother to lose it is when he starts a brawl in the middle of his football game after a kid from the other team was giving him a hard time for letting his father drive that night. Shortly after this Jake, his mother and his younger brother move to Olando, Florida in hope for a new start but that didn’t quite work; a video of the brawl with the explanation of why it occurred was the big thing at his new high school, this led to more fights, Jake joining a mixed martial arts gym with one of the world’s greatest fighters, the involvement in an underground fight league and a rivalry with the area’s top fighter, which involves more than just their fists and feet. Jake Tyler who is played by Sean Faris, definitely gave me a good first impression. The anger held inside his character stayed noticeable and very constant throughout the whole movie, he did a great job of keeping the same emotions without being cheesy or making it obvious that it was all just acting. Jake’s rival, Ryan McCarthy who is played by Cam Gigandet, played the role as the feared bully of the high school due to his great skills in mixed martial arts and the fact that he wasn’t afraid to beat up on someone just for fun. One theme that is present is hard work can get you to your destination. The audience can take this away from the hard work and dedication Jake puts into his fighting to get ready for an underground fighting tournament. This movie received a 6.2 out of 10 rating from over 25,000 voters on the Internet Movie Database website. I do not agree with this as I would probably rate this movie around and 8.5 out of 10, but I do understand that it is fairly violent and is probably more popular among teens, which is why I probably wouldn’t recommend it for everyone. Anyone who is a fan of violence or fighting should give this movie a view, those who don’t like movies like that should probably keep away from it.