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Movie Review: Never Back Down
Never Back Down is the remix of Karate Kid for today's generation, but considerably superior and definitely worth seeing if you enjoy action movies or high school maturation stories.
First, the plot: Take the original Karate Kid story, change out Jean Roqua's (Djimon Hounsou) mixed martial arts for Mr Miyagi's (Pat Morita) karate, change the names of the lead characters, set it in Florida instead of CA, and make the final tournament be a no-holds-barred brawl with DJs (but, strangely, umpires?) and you could pretty much write this script yourself. The "twists" aren't very twisty, and nothing in this movie will surprise you, but it sure feels good: the boy and the girl end up together, Evil is defeated, Good triumphs, and once the final blow lands, Peace Reigns Forevermore. [Just make a point of never asking yourself "why is it that all of these kids are taking videos of each other committing assault and battery and then uploading them to YouTube, but the police never show up?" or "how is it that these kids have fractured ribs on Tuesday and are in school and are fine on Wednesday?"]
Here's where the difference comes in, and lift this movie from being a simple plagiarism into something really superior to its ancestor: in this one, the protagonist actually shows some emotional development.
Jake Tyler (our new-age Daniel-san) is from Idaho, and dealing with some really tough issues: his father died in a drunk driving accident after Jake let him drive--Jake was in the passenger seat, and could have prevented his father from driving, but didn't. Jake has just been uprooted, taken away from the place where he fit in and was a football star, and brought to this strange place where his family seems to be the only one in his school without stupid amounts of money--all because his little brother (who is clearly much smarter and better read than Jake) is a budding tennis star who just won a scholarship. His mother is working long hours to make ends meet, so she is rarely around, and Jake is largely responsible for taking care of his brother.
Despite all this, Jake is a really likable character and you sincerely believe that this is a good kid who has some issues but is struggling to deal with them. Unlike Daniel, Jake never puffs himself up and claims that he can do things he can't to impress a girl. He avoids fights, except when someone deliberately pushes his Character Trauma button. He clearly loves his brother and is close to him. Things with his mom are more strained, but there's clearly love and respect there.
In Karate Kid, the final "Mr Miyagi, please fix my leg so that I can go finish the tournament or there will never be balance!" speech never felt sincere. It always seemed like the "balance" in question was "they pounded on me, so I need to pound on them". Maybe there was an element "...or they will keep pounding on me", but it was still whiny, just like at the beginning of the movie. In Never Back Down, Jake walked away from every fight where he had the opportunity to, and he only reason he shows up at the tournament is because the bully makes it clear that, if he doesn't, the bully will beat up his friends and possibly his family. By the end of the movie, he seems to have gotten something of a better handle on his issues and is starting to make some progress.
I really, really liked the fact that this was a martial arts movie where high school students were shown with some maturity and the good guys sincerely believed--and lived!--the part about "peace is better than war and revenge really doesn't help." You see lip service to that in a lot of movies, but it never feels real.
If you've got a Netflix subscription, go watch this. It's only an hour and a half or so, and it's fun.
First, the plot: Take the original Karate Kid story, change out Jean Roqua's (Djimon Hounsou) mixed martial arts for Mr Miyagi's (Pat Morita) karate, change the names of the lead characters, set it in Florida instead of CA, and make the final tournament be a no-holds-barred brawl with DJs (but, strangely, umpires?) and you could pretty much write this script yourself. The "twists" aren't very twisty, and nothing in this movie will surprise you, but it sure feels good: the boy and the girl end up together, Evil is defeated, Good triumphs, and once the final blow lands, Peace Reigns Forevermore. [Just make a point of never asking yourself "why is it that all of these kids are taking videos of each other committing assault and battery and then uploading them to YouTube, but the police never show up?" or "how is it that these kids have fractured ribs on Tuesday and are in school and are fine on Wednesday?"]
Here's where the difference comes in, and lift this movie from being a simple plagiarism into something really superior to its ancestor: in this one, the protagonist actually shows some emotional development.
Jake Tyler (our new-age Daniel-san) is from Idaho, and dealing with some really tough issues: his father died in a drunk driving accident after Jake let him drive--Jake was in the passenger seat, and could have prevented his father from driving, but didn't. Jake has just been uprooted, taken away from the place where he fit in and was a football star, and brought to this strange place where his family seems to be the only one in his school without stupid amounts of money--all because his little brother (who is clearly much smarter and better read than Jake) is a budding tennis star who just won a scholarship. His mother is working long hours to make ends meet, so she is rarely around, and Jake is largely responsible for taking care of his brother.
Despite all this, Jake is a really likable character and you sincerely believe that this is a good kid who has some issues but is struggling to deal with them. Unlike Daniel, Jake never puffs himself up and claims that he can do things he can't to impress a girl. He avoids fights, except when someone deliberately pushes his Character Trauma button. He clearly loves his brother and is close to him. Things with his mom are more strained, but there's clearly love and respect there.
In Karate Kid, the final "Mr Miyagi, please fix my leg so that I can go finish the tournament or there will never be balance!" speech never felt sincere. It always seemed like the "balance" in question was "they pounded on me, so I need to pound on them". Maybe there was an element "...or they will keep pounding on me", but it was still whiny, just like at the beginning of the movie. In Never Back Down, Jake walked away from every fight where he had the opportunity to, and he only reason he shows up at the tournament is because the bully makes it clear that, if he doesn't, the bully will beat up his friends and possibly his family. By the end of the movie, he seems to have gotten something of a better handle on his issues and is starting to make some progress.
I really, really liked the fact that this was a martial arts movie where high school students were shown with some maturity and the good guys sincerely believed--and lived!--the part about "peace is better than war and revenge really doesn't help." You see lip service to that in a lot of movies, but it never feels real.
If you've got a Netflix subscription, go watch this. It's only an hour and a half or so, and it's fun.
Don't diss Ponyboy!