A Brilliant Conflict

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

It's a great action movie with some amazing action scenes, but the problem is that feeling of there is acting going on , that wont let you to live the movie, I'm not sure if choosing Josh Barnett to play Brody James was a good choice at all, however the other actors did just fine, Michael Jai White did his magic as usual. The whole idea of never back down always impressed me , cool fight scenes and giving moral to the story the action that's going on, and having a goal to achieve , working hard for it, therefore if you are looking for a good action movie this one will be just fine for you, don't expect much.

Never Back Down: No Surrender is an In Between Very Good and Excellent Michael Jai White Martial Arts film. This film also has an excellent cast, Michael Jai White as Case Walker, Josh Barnett as Brody James, Gillian White as Myca Cruz, Esai Morales as Hugo Vega, Stephen Quadros as Matty Ramos and Nathan Jones as Caesar Braga. This film also has a small appearance by Tony Jaa. The 3rd Never Back Down film, Never Back Down: No Surrender also is a tense Martial Arts Thriller just like the sequel Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown and the fighting and storyline of the film is also much better than the first Never Back Down film. Michael Jai Whites acting as Case Walker was excellent. His character was a very tough, non nonsense fighter who was also very caring and friendly. Josh Barnetts acting as Brody James was also excellent and I also liked his character very much. Gillian Whites acting as Myca Cruz was also excellent. Her character was a very kindhearted, caring, loving and empathetic woman. Esai Morales acting as Hugo Vega was also excellent. His character was a very loud, greedy and manipulative businessman. Stephen Quadroses acting as Matty Ramos was also excellent. His character was also a trainer, who had his misunderstandings of Case Walker but eventually got rid of those misunderstandings and was friendly with Case Walker. Nathan Joneses acting as villain Caesar Braga was also excellent. His character was a psychotic, insane villain. The only thing that I think stopped this film from being an excellent film is that I would have loved to seen a bit more fighting from Josh Barnetts character Brody James. Other than that, this film is awesome and should not be missed

Never Back Down 2 was a pretty nice movie no doubt about that but Never Back Down 3 is just pure epicness. The fight scenes are just awesome every time that Michael Jai White fights and you see flashbacks from him training it's awesome also the bad guy of the film Caesar Braga was a pretty good villain and White is so badass that he doesn't need a cage to take him out also Tony Jaa has a cameo and he is hilarious did i forget to mention that the film is actually pretty funny? Also i like the messages that the film offers like one man against a corrupted system or also the friendship between Case and Brody also the relationship between Case and Myca feels real because it's his actual wife in real life. Never Back Down 3 is a great straight to DVD movie and if you loved the first film you won't be disappointed.

1. Big fan of Michael Jai White, which I made clear in my other reviews, especially Blood and Bone, which is a must-see. Called him "the most under-utilized MMA asset in Hollywood." 2. Guess he got tired of waiting for a phone call, because MJW as "director" cast himself in Never Back Down 2 which, for a low budget effort, was a really tight little indie and seems to have given his career a well-deserved second (third?) wind.3. At 48 years young, MJW is 15 years younger than Steven Seagal, who keeps cranking out Direct To Video productions that should more correctly be called Direct-to-Forget. Except that MJW looks ten years younger than he actually is, and SS looks ten years older than he actually is.4. This film, NBD3, is unlike anything MJW has done before and even unlike NBD2. It can be considered MJW's personal version of Rocky. (And of course has virtually no connection to NBD1 other than the name.) The script is slow in spots but contains sly humor one does not usually find in these sorts of films. The fight scenes totally rock and there is a new "trope" that MJW (as director) seems to have invented that involves "forecasting" a fight just before it happens, using slo-mo shot in Black and White. Cool! 5. There are two very strange cameos by Tony Jaa and Rampage Jackson which I am still trying to figure out. Ditto for another walk-on by a female Thai martial artist who looked like she weighs 75 pounds soaking wet. And the "big finish" for the story is taken straight from the playbook in Red Belt, another great (and overlooked) MMA film.RECOMMENDED (!) as both solid entertainment and something different and unexpected. And please remember to see Blood and Bone and NBD2 if you have not already. Also rec Bronson in 1975's HARD TIMES.