It's a simple story that could have been decent but is let down by the main lead in my opinion. Sean Faris was not a likeable actor to me. His portrayal of an angry teen just came off as more annoying than anything. I get that he lost his father and is grieving, but I just found it hard to root for him or feel sorry for him with his constant moaning. He has no charisma at all. Massively let this film down for me.

The fight scenes were ok, but theirs been plenty of similar movies with much better. Cam Gigandet plays a pretty decent antagonist, and he bought more energy to his character than Farris ever did and brings a certain cockiness to his character. Amber Heard plays the typical love interest who is at first obviously with the antagonist before going over to the protagonist. She was also just ok in this movie, nothing special, but she certainly is eye candy for the role.

The mentor Jean Roque played wonderfully by Djimon Hounsou is easily the standout of this film. He is the owner of a gym who agrees to train Jake. Before he agrees to train, he tells Jake that he forbids fighting outside of the gym, which let's be honest, we all knew was never going to happen. Djimon brings more depth to his character than any other and you can start to understand what he's all about as the film progresses.

Never Back Down is a very average movie that fails to inspire.

5/10