Kicking guys are Todd Duffee and Michael Jai White. Next comic book guy walks past some dudes practicing kicks outside and then gets jumped for no reason I can see and escapes and runs back to the kicking guys who scare off the bad guys. I guess those were our characters introductions, but not the star curiously… Cut to a frat party and flaming out with a chick who looks like she’s in her late twenties then into the boxing ring then back to comic book guy. Now there’s a UPS guy who looks like Todd Duffee and a Mom who is unable to pay the bills and a dorky guy in a comic book shop and now we’re back to dorm guy but it seems like a lot of time has passed as the dorm room is totally set up and lived in. This movie is three minutes old and I’m already lost. Cheese ball pit –> flashback to first day of college for other dudes moving into the dorm –> cut to yet another dude at the gym and working out in the ring for some babes. Maybe Michael Jai White's next film will bridge the gap a little better.Dude with a lip ring fighting in what looks like an empty Chuck E. The film isn't good enough to reach outside its core demographic. In this regard, the movie is thin, but passable entertainment. Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown is only worth watching if you love mixed martial arts. It's a solid track that's worth a gander if you like the MMA/UFC scene (I don't). There's a slew of previews, a deleted scenes reel and a commentary from Michael Jai White alongside MMA fighter Scottie Epstein and UFC fighter Todd Duffee. It's incredibly overbearing, with heavy inorganic surrounds and grating metal music consistent with other awful MMA films. Also lumbering is the film's 5.1 Dolby Digital mix. The encode is clean and sharp, but the film can't shake the fact that it looks like a video. As such, it looks dull and uninspired, not unlike other MMA films on the market. No atmospheric tinting or color timing seems to have been applied to give this one a more filmic appearance. Never Back Down 2 comes to DVD presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. Alas, Never Back Down 2 drums up all the tired conventions and focuses on them instead of what really matters. Really, do we care about the characters in a fighting movie? Maybe in a sports drama like Rocky, but certainly not in a fighting exploitation flick. It also doesn't help that the script (at least as it's presented on screen) is thinly painted with tired cliches and dull dialogue. Here our heroes are given way too much dialogue and way too much character, and virtually everyone on board, except for Jai White and a few other non-fighters, has a hard time chewing on their dialogue. A tight, concise 80-minute movie would have better suited the narrative. But with an overlong 104-minute running time, the film is padded with far too much superfluous matter. About as many as your usual fighting flick. And there are a decent amount of set pieces here, too. The fight set pieces here aren't bad, but they feel a little stale, especially in comparison to the Undisputed films, which feature some of coolest stuff you're going to see in a DTV knucklebuster, especially the third film. Why? Because that's what fighting superstars do best – fight. The plots are thin, though in that franchise they are fairly well developed. I'm reminded of the Undisputed DTV sequels, a series Michael Jai White was once featured in. These guys can't act their way out of a paper bag, so why try? Just have them fight. The screen is packed with UFC and MMA stars. The story is fairly trivial, but bloated, which is the film's biggest problem – there's way too much of it. It's a name-only DTV sequel about – you guessed it – underground MMA fighting tournaments. Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown is Michael Jai White's directorial debut. But throw him into the backseat (as a minor character) and force him to direct an MMA-sanctioned movie, and he'll deliver exactly what you'd expect – crap. His last few efforts have been downright terrific, especially his cult masterpiece Black Dynamite. And he seems like a pretty cool dude, too. I really love Michael Jai White's movies.
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