I don't think I gave away any spoilers, but I checked the box just to be safe...
I, like most that might be thinking of watching this film, was sucked into it because I'm a huge MMA fan and I couldn't pass up the chance to see some of my favorite fighters in a movie. Rampage and Anderson Silva are my personal favs, not to mention GSP and Penn. So I ignored the bad reviews and low scores and sat down to watch what I thought would be a fun little action movie. I mean, I love a good bad movie. (Manos anyone?)
Heres what I got instead: The main actor (the "Hero" if you will) looks about 20 years too old to be fighting anyone and that alone takes away from the realism right away. Then, the lead actress is probably the worst looking girl in a movie full of butter-faces. and then you've got the fact that it seems as if they didn't have any microphones during filming because EVERY LINE is dubbed in. They even had someone else dub in GSP's lines for him! (c'mon, his accent isn't THAT bad). There's 3 or 4 cringe worthy Skinamax-style sex scenes that serve no plot purpose. There's hardly any plot to speak of really. There's nothing remotely likable about any of the characters. The soundtrack is b-movie emo-pop-punk bile and every song sounds the same as the last one. Worst of all, the MAIN PURPOSE of the film, the fight scenes, are horrible. They start off with some "ROUND ONE! FIGHT!"-style intro, and then its 4 minutes of extreme closeups, shaky cameras and unrealistic MMA. They look more like outtakes from Street Fighter or Kickboxer than they do MMA fights. and as a cherry on top, the fighter cameos are a joke. I don't know how they talked them into being in the film (because by the looks of it, this movie was made for 14 bucks), but blink and you'll miss Rampage, Penn and Silva have 2 quick fights and GSP has probably the best fight in the film. But remember, thats only relative to the suck-fest that is this movie.
I was able to watch the whole thing, but it took me 4 sessions. And I only forced myself so I could get on, write this review and hopefully save someone else 90 minutes. But I know if you're looking into this movie and reading reviews, you've probably made up your mind to watch it no matter what, as I had.
or...
just this once, you could take a strangers advice and stay away. it really isn't worth it, its not the kind of bad thats fun. its the kind of bad thats just painful. go watch Never Back Down instead. because as dumb and unrealistic as that movie was, at least the fight scenes were somewhat fun to watch and it felt like a movie. Never Surrender feels more like a 90 minute practical joke on the viewer.
I, like most that might be thinking of watching this film, was sucked into it because I'm a huge MMA fan and I couldn't pass up the chance to see some of my favorite fighters in a movie. Rampage and Anderson Silva are my personal favs, not to mention GSP and Penn. So I ignored the bad reviews and low scores and sat down to watch what I thought would be a fun little action movie. I mean, I love a good bad movie. (Manos anyone?)
Heres what I got instead: The main actor (the "Hero" if you will) looks about 20 years too old to be fighting anyone and that alone takes away from the realism right away. Then, the lead actress is probably the worst looking girl in a movie full of butter-faces. and then you've got the fact that it seems as if they didn't have any microphones during filming because EVERY LINE is dubbed in. They even had someone else dub in GSP's lines for him! (c'mon, his accent isn't THAT bad). There's 3 or 4 cringe worthy Skinamax-style sex scenes that serve no plot purpose. There's hardly any plot to speak of really. There's nothing remotely likable about any of the characters. The soundtrack is b-movie emo-pop-punk bile and every song sounds the same as the last one. Worst of all, the MAIN PURPOSE of the film, the fight scenes, are horrible. They start off with some "ROUND ONE! FIGHT!"-style intro, and then its 4 minutes of extreme closeups, shaky cameras and unrealistic MMA. They look more like outtakes from Street Fighter or Kickboxer than they do MMA fights. and as a cherry on top, the fighter cameos are a joke. I don't know how they talked them into being in the film (because by the looks of it, this movie was made for 14 bucks), but blink and you'll miss Rampage, Penn and Silva have 2 quick fights and GSP has probably the best fight in the film. But remember, thats only relative to the suck-fest that is this movie.
I was able to watch the whole thing, but it took me 4 sessions. And I only forced myself so I could get on, write this review and hopefully save someone else 90 minutes. But I know if you're looking into this movie and reading reviews, you've probably made up your mind to watch it no matter what, as I had.
or...
just this once, you could take a strangers advice and stay away. it really isn't worth it, its not the kind of bad thats fun. its the kind of bad thats just painful. go watch Never Back Down instead. because as dumb and unrealistic as that movie was, at least the fight scenes were somewhat fun to watch and it felt like a movie. Never Surrender feels more like a 90 minute practical joke on the viewer.