Never Back Down was the 2008 version of the Karate Kid starring Sean Farris, Amber Heard, Djimon Hounsou with Twilights Cam Gigandet as the bully bad boy of the piece. A couple of sequels later and we have Never Back Down: Revolt, that is so far removed from the original it might as well be called something else.
A kidnapped woman is forced to battle in elite underground fights in order to win her freedom, and refusal means certain death.
Starring former UFC Champion Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping and Olivia Popica, the fourth installment of the Never Back Down series which has absolutely nothing to do with anything that has come before, heads down the dark and seedy path of female fighter trafficking… Yes you read that right, female fighter trafficking. It is quite clearly stated during the middle section of the film that they ladies are ‘not to be used for sex, just fighting’. You’d be better off watching Angie: Lost Girls at this point if you want a real worlds view on the truly horrendous world of sex trafficking. Used as a tool for the ‘fights’. This is a Poundshop version of Best of the Best 2 without any of the charm, intense fights or any relative drama.
The fight choeregraphy is downright embarrassing at times, only action right hand man Lee Charles gets to throw down abiet all to brief does MBD:R come close to realistic. Bisping growls his way through trying to be intimidating with lines such as ‘I like to hit girls’. The script sounds like it was written for a GCSE drama project and delivered in much the same style.
The make up effects of bruising on Popica looks like she’s had one to many heavy nights at the nightclub, being dumped by her boyfriend before crying for the next few hours in the toilet to her mates casing her mascara to run down her face. The entire project is a huge misfire, which some executive probably thought somewhere that this was martial arts with a message. It isn’t.
The Never Back Down series was never going to be a real money spinner, but without the charismatic leads from the first film, this is akin to No Retreat, No Surrender and its sequels back in the late 80s. Started off as a cult favourite before diminishing returns and lack of star power of cohesive storylines made it all instantly forgettable.
Never Back Down: Revolt, is so crass and heavy handed director Kellie Madison probably should have named it Never Back Down: Revolting.
Never Back Down: Revolt is now available on Digital, DVD & Blu Ray
