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Spoiler Points for Never Back Down (2008) [PG-13] 110 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $10.50
DVD Release: 29 July 2008 (click date to purchase or pre-order)
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
Click to read the non-spoiler review
Click to see photos from the Premiere of Never Back Down
Spoiler Points:
• Jake Tyler (Sean Faris) knew his father was too drunk to drive, but let him drive anyway. His father ended up crashing their car into a tree killing himself and sparing his son. Jake, though alive, has taken to fighting at school as a way of punishing himself for his father's death.
• Jake's mother, Margo (Leslie Hope), doesn't blame Jake, though she has a hard time proving it to him.
• Jake joins instructor Jean Roqua's Gym to train so that he can beat the living daylights out of his arch rival Ryan McCarthy (Cam Gigandet) despite a promise to Roqua that he won't fight outside the gym.
• Jake's skills vastly improve under Roqua's intense training regimen. Unfortunately, he blows his stack when some jerks in a yellow Hummer honk at his friend Max (Evan Peters) who is slow to make a turn. Jake leaps from the car and takes on all three of the Hummer's occupants. Max, of course, films everything with his cell phone camera, and Jake ends up all over YouTube™ whipping the stuffing out of the three men single-handedly.
• Roqua finds out and kicks Jake out of his gym.
• Jake earns his way back into Roqua's gym with an explanation of how much being in the gym has changed him, helped him deal with his anger, and helped him deal with himself when it comes to understanding his emotions regarding his father's death and his own inaction. Roqua confesses to a similar incident in his own past when he failed to act to protect his brother from an assassination and his father's subsequent disownment.
• The to 'make up' and Jake goes full force in his training. Things are going so well, and Roqua is filling the father-figure void in a way his own father never really did.
• In order to get Jake to compete in the "Beat Down" competition where Ryan McCarthy hopes to finish off Jake once and for all, Jake kidnaps and beats up Max to within inches of his life. At this point, Jake makes the decision to violate Roqua's rules and go ahead and fight Ryan. At first Roqua is furious, but eventually, he realizes that sometimes you have to fight. He tells Jake to "control the outcome".
• Jake enters the "Beat Down" and works his way up to the semi-finals, one fight away from facing Ryan. Unfortunately, during the semi-finals, Ryan gouges his opponent in the eyes and is disqualified. When Jake realizes he won't be fighting Ryan, he "taps out" of the semi-final before it even starts sending his opponent to fight Ryan's opponent in the finals. In the parking lot, he runs in to Ryan and explains that he took from Ryan the one thing he wanted most and that was the public attention of beating him only he didn't even have to fight. This sets Ryan off and the two start fighting in the parking lot.
• When the crowd inside learns of the superior fight in the parking lot, they abandon the championship fight for the brawl on the pavement. The two are well-matched until suddenly Ryan gets the upper hand and nearly applies a fatal blow to Jake on the hood of a car. When all is nearly lost, Jake claims his inner strength fueled by adrenalin, and battles back. Eventually, he delivers a kick that nearly knocks off Ryan's block. He is the victor.
• Jake gets the girl and the respect of all. He runs into Ryan in the parking lot at school and the two share glances of mutual respect—but this could be a signal to look for a sequel if the film enjoys the box office success it likely will.
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