Never Back Down tells the story of a good-looking
teenager from the wrong side of the tracks and his single mother, who
move to a new town filled with wealthy shitsticks who want to fight him
via non-sanctioned combat that may or may not take place in a basement
owned by Tyler Durden.

Shitstick pack leaderโ€”I’m going to call him “Johnny”โ€”is
dating a pretty blonde girl, maybe named “Ali.” Our hero, “Daniel-san,”
has a big ol’ crush on Ali, and after getting his ass handed to him by
Johnny, Daniel-san learns the secrets of chop socky from a mysterious
and lonely guru with an accent. Twelve thousand montages later, the
audience learns Daniel-san is the best around and nothing’s ever gonna
keep him down! Also, Never Back Down made me:

1. Want to set the theater on fire.

2. Wax on and wax off.

3. Take the movie into a dark alley and smother it in the face with
a pillow stuffed with broken glass.

4. Sad for the guy from Blood Diamond. He deserves better
than this.

5. Angry at kids today. Then I put my dentures back in.

6. Think that I could probably, if pressed, catch a fly with
chopsticks.

7. Remember the first rule of Fight Club is that you do not talk about Fight
Club.

8. Ready to learn mixed martial arts so bad I could taste it.

Never Back Down might be a terrible rip-off of a movie, but
the fighting, at least, is MAJOR. I kind of want to hit myself in the
face with aย hammer for saying this, but paying money to see it
would not be the worst thing that ever happened to a person.

Never Back Down

dir. Jeff Wadlow
Opens Fri March 14
Various Theaters