Terrible movie with a terrible message
Maybe it's just me, but I have to say it anyways. 'Never Back Down' was a fun movie to watch back when it came out. It had (mostly) likeable actors and Djimon Hounsou to carry it a little way further than your average, run of the mill fighting movie. While it wasn't nearly as bad as some similar movies out there, it didn't set the bar very high either, so a decent sequel was not an unthinkable option.
Enter 'Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown'.
As cheesy as the first movie was, it had an decent message behind it. Jake initially wanted to fight to get even with Ryan, the bad boy who was a dick mainly because that's what the spectators craved - his showmanship and brutality as a fighter. Somewhere along the line, Jake realizes he doesn't want to continue with the Beatdown because he doesn't believe in fighting for hundreds of screaming hormonal teens. He wants a more noble reason, which he gets when Max is almost beaten to death. Then it's no longer about him, it's about the safety of his friends. So he goes in and defeats Ryan to stop him, not humiliate him for the spectators' pleasure. Throughout the fight, his girlfriend's reaction turns from excitement to terror as she realizes that anybody who watches someone get his ribs punched in repeatedly with glee does not deserve a fighter's sacrifice. When the fight's over, Jake and Ryan are not enemies anymore because Ryan is no longer adored the way he was when he was the hot shot and is now faced with a different side of the coin - one where people don't suck up to him as much. And he appreciates it.
'Never Back Down 2' is completely devoid of any positive messages. In fact, if it indeed has one it will have the opposite effect. I won't spoil anything important, if you can even call it that. The story revolves around yet another troubled teacher of sorts this time played by Michael Jai White instead of Hounsou. And while Hounsou's revelation in the first one is touching and meaningful, White's is no where near that depth and could be easily summed up with a familiar N.W.A. song about law enforcement. Then there is the character of Justin, who is an outcast turned menace and serves as the story's main villain. He is clearly written from the perspective of someone who never knew what it means to be an outcast in school and simply considered them freaks who would one day lose their mind and try to seriously injure or kill their tormentors. Even though this is sometimes tragically the case, Justin is never given a reason to do so. He survives a mugging, sure, but that's it. There are lines thrown in like;
"Did you take your meds?"
"He's a psycho"
etc. to illustrate that he's gone haywire, but we're never shown why. Other than that attack I mentioned earlier which forces him to learn self defense, there's not much else that's happened to him. Oh, yeah, a girl blows him off. Wow. That's sure to put anybody in a psychopathic mood, right? And if you survived a mugging, you wouldn't just be relieved everything's alright. Instead you'd inexplicably find where the attackers live and approach them in hand to hand combat when you know the last time you met they were armed. That's what this movie wants you to believe. And last but not least, there's no positive outcome at the end. That's not to say that it's tragic in any way, but no character is wiser than they were when they started out. It's all a popularity contest and it's no surprise because there's nothing else to take away from it.
Anyways, this has been by far the longest post I made on IMDB and it's purely to save anybody's time out there from watching this abysmal movie. Please understand that I'm not doing this because I think the first one was some work of art. It wasn't. But it was a well shot entertaining ride. This is everything but that. It falls in my top five worst sequels of all time as a close second to 'Highlander: The Source'. You have been warned.