Such a frustrating disappointment

Good movie but grossly overrated

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Case Walker (Michael Jai White) is a small time kick boxer trying to keep a low profile. He is recruited by his buddy Brody (Josh Barnett) to train him for a title match in Thailand. Case Walker is old school and has a "disruptive presence." Blah Blah Blah, formula formula formula.Needless to say the whole film was predictable after the first few minutes, or even by looking at the DVD cover. That is not to say it was bad. Michael Jai White gave us a character to rally around, even though we knew the outcome. The main problem I had was that the lead up fights were better than the climax fight done in slow motion with a lumbering opponent (Nathan Jones) waiting to be hit. That was real lousy shooting and editing on that final battle.Tony Jaa in a very minor role.Guide: F-word. Hot Asian nudity.

What a nice surprise. Michael Jai White did excellent work. He managed to refrain from unnecessary Hollywood-overkill and instead just told a story that flows nicely and rewards the viewer with some spectacular fight scenes. It's actually a bit understated. A rare thing to find these days. I'll give you an example. During the finale of Hard Target 2 all I could think of was: My God, does the shooting never stop? What could have just been a gritty survivalist martial arts movie, had to be made into an over-the-top action vehicle. But it didn't look like the production crew had the money or experience to pull their ideas off. It just ends up looking disappointing. Thankfully, Michael Jai White had no illusions about his project. Not everything about this movie was top notch. But it just seemed to work for me. I got exactly what I needed. And maybe you will too. I hope MJW will be involved in many more good projects like this one.

And that is just friendly advice. You do know that villains never think they'll back down. Until they do, then they not only think it, they actually do it. But apart from the obvious and the predictability what else is there? The fight scenes of course and they are pretty well staged. Though that shouldn't be surprising if you have seen Michael Jai Whites previous work before.Characters try to shine through, but not every beat of the story or of their development works well. It means well, but that doesn't always go down that well. Well enough of that, because most likely you watch this or consider watching this because of the action involved and there you won't be disappointed (unless you expect Tony Jaa ... wait he also is in it. But just in a cameo role! More juice and fight is in the "Chocolate" star, also getting a short appearance in this).So while I haven't seen the previous Never Back Down, this is based on, you can watch it and still enjoy it too

I enjoyed a lot the first one back then, surprisingly even tough it had an Hollywood cast and was very commercial i loved it. Amber Heard... oh boy... lol. The second one came as a good surprise and i enjoyed it again a damn lot. The character of Case Walker was good but so was the other ones as well.It was inevitable that the third movie would focus on Case, after all Michael Jai White is a huge name in the martial art style and the story of the kids from the second movie was wrapped up.So when the trailer drop, i was a bit surprised. I mean it didn't looked as good as i had in mind for the next step in Case Walker story. But after having seen the movie, i do feel the movie is a lot better than the trailer. By a lot. Good action, solid character development, the story is engaging even tough a bit less personal than in previous movies. Non the less Michael Jai White make it work super great. The only thing that people may have a grip with, just like i do, is that the movie lacks a great antagonist. The battle is not personal on that level. I don't want to go into a spoiler review so i will not say more, but lets just say that the focus in clearly on the main characters and there relationship together. He does work very good tough.In the end i had a ton of fun with that movie, its movies like that i am waiting for and i welcome so much the release once in a while. Its like 90s kickboxing movies goodness but at the same time with better direction, better acting, betting production value as a whole.I do not know the budget for this movie, but for a direct to DVD (not even blu ray, at least here in Quebec) its damn impressive what they accomplished. Fans of martial art action, give it a shot for sure.