Never Back Down: No Surrender

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.