Never Back Down Review

Having just bought the DVD I have recently re-discovered the awesomeness that is 'Never Back Down'. Unfortunately it seems the majority of reviewers fail to share my enthusiasm of the film (at the time of writing Rotten Tomatoes has it at around 20%) and so I felt I needed to give it some love right here.

There's one way I can get you to see why the film is pure class. Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. So here goes:

Serious, how can you not love a film with that in it??

Amber Heard aside however, the main problem most reviewers seem to have with the film is that it's uninspired in that it very closely follows the conventions of the fight film. That is to say it ticks all the boxes: wise guru, father issues, romantic sub-plot, revenge as the motivation, training montages and final showdown. In this sense they claim the film offers nothing new that we haven't seen before in Rocky or The Karate Kid.

My point however is: what's wrong with that? The genre is one that very rarely sees a new entry and as much as I love both Rocky and The Karate Kid I feel that an update is long overdue. For fans of those films Never Back Down offers everything you could hope for - a contempory take on a classic formula that plays down the cheese and plays up the stakes, the brains and the acting skills. This is a mixture of Fight Club and Step Up but structured in the familiar Karate Kid formula.

And to say it offers nothing new at all is also unfair. For starters this is the first time we've seen MMA in a mainstream film, something which was long overdue and which makes for spectacular, visceral fight scenes.


The film also offers a fairly in-depth meditation on the ethics of combat, using some clever imagery and literary references to make its point. Other reviewers have again missed the point here reading the film's message as 'sometimes it's better not to fight'. For this reason they complain that the fight at the end is contradictory and caters only to the studios with no thought for integrity. The title of the film alone however should be enough evidence that this is not the case. My understanding of the message is that sometimes you do have to do something - to fight - if only to prevent yourself from having to fight in the future and to protect the things you care about. Like the shield of Achiles.

The slightly deeper nature of the film is also reflected in the characters who aren't your usual two dimensional stereotypes. Each one has their own 'fight' in the film and each is likeable and charismatic in their role. Our protagonist Jake in particular is a very well fleshed out character, played with gusto by Sean Faris, and his problems are easy to identify or at least sympathise with making you route for him all that much more when he goes up against bad guy Ryan.

Throw in a rocking 'high school' style sound track, an awesome cast and some nifty directing and editing (both of which nicely compliment the contempory setting and technological themes) and you have the best film for getting pumped since Rocky 4.

*****

My Week Without Caffein

Allot of people/wesbsites have advised that I give up caffeine. 'Why?' I ask them. 'Because it's good for your health.' they answer. 'How is it?' I ask intrigued. 'Because of... the health...' they mumble. Thing was, despite allot of people knowing it's good for your health, few people seemed to really know exactly what the advantages are. Search on Google 'giving up caffeine' and you'll get hundreds of relevant links. Search 'reasons to give up caffeine' however and you find far fewer results show up. I decided that there was only one way to find out exactly what the effects were - try it myself. So here it is - my diary from my week without any caffeine. Just to put this experiment into perspective you should know that I was really hooked on it up until this point. I mean I would drink about four cups of coffee at work, then five or six cups of tea when I got home. That's one big caffeine injection. This challenge certainly wasn't easy. No Caffeine Day 1 It's day one of my week without caffeine and I already want to die. It started badly when I arrived at work and a colleague had already made me a coffee. I had to actually poor it away, which was painful but also like a symbolic commital to my fast. People didn't like it either. I'm known as one of the guys who always has a hot drink. When I refuse they just look at me like 'you've changed...' Drinking tea and coffee is a social thing aswell, you don't notice that until it's gone. By 12 I already had a headache, which is terrible. Normally I'd be on my 3rd drink by then. I was all stressed out too about my MOT which was booked for 5pm. I'd have given anything for some caffeine... injected straight into my eyeballs preferably. So at lunch I decided to buy some decaff coffee. It's better than nothing as I enjoy just the calming effect of any hot beverage, but it still tastes like dirt in mug of water. Mmmm dirt... It's like a mockery - sacrilege - against real coffee. And it's expensive. I prefer tea anyway, and I don't think you can get de-caf tea can you? And green tea is just like putting a leaf in your drink - pointless. No Caffeine Day 2 So today was the second day of my caffeine fasting and it's again been a struggle. I did find it marginally easier to get out of bed this morning but that could just be down to the fact that I went to sleep an hour earlier - because of the headache I was suffering due to lack of caffeine! It reached its worst point at work when at 12 it became almost unbearable (not helped by Rachel taunting me). At lunch time I just ambled around then sat on a step with my head in my hands like a tramp. I wanted to cry... Fortunately for some reason it actually improved by about 2 but then my day just got really weird and stressful and tested my vigil to the full. All I wanted was to go home and sleep, maybe vomit a bit, but sadly that was not to be as I ended up at some horrible weird gypsie party that was going on next door. Alcohol actually helped however as did the fear which took my mind of my caffeine problems. When I got back though I was full of nerves (I'd snuck out and was hoping they weren't going to come looking for me) and found I have never wanted a mug more. I held out though. No caffeine day 3: Or middle actually. It's more the middle of the tunnel seeing as it's only the third day. It's light though as I haven't had a headache today, and have actually been feeling quite healthy. Except randomly I've been feeling crippling pain in my bad wrist/hand (and also my back actually), but I don't think those are related. Part of the solution I found was milkshake. I've always loved milkshake, and its actually even more soothing than tea during my Adam time. The other thing that helped was to look at it as a challenge. Even if I'm not sure about the reasons I'm doing this, it's still an opportunity to test my will. My iron will. Just like the gym. I've made it through the rain - just like Barry Manilow. I'm still planning on going back to drinking tea and coffee after the experiment but maybe I'll drink a bit less if it means I'll always have this extra energy. No Caffeine Day 6: Day six of my no-caffeine challenge and I actually feel pretty good for it. I feel loathe to admit it, but I seem to have more energy and my body clock is now almost like that of a normal human. I'm pretty sure I sleep better (and I've been having some bizarre dreams - Saturday night I joined the 'Labrador resistance movement' (I was the only non-dog member)) and I feel more awake as a result. I feel less of a jittery wreck and have been relaxing more too. Saying that I did still lie-in until 2pm on Sunday, but Si had been round the night before and didn't leave until 4am which is late even for me. Without my usual caffeine boost I was nearly comatose by the time he left. I've possibly been less productive overall, but that's a good thing in a way as I was beginning to tire myself out. Infact I'm so pleased with the results that I'm strongly considering staying this way and being a permanently decaf guy. No Caffeine Day 12: Although this was meant to be just one week it actually seems to have become nearly two without and with no clear end in sight. I've finished the test now so I can drink as much as I want but I've found I quite like feeling a bit more fresh and a bit less jittery. You know how you drink alcohol to loosen up and be more sociable? Well if you're really hooked on coffee I find it's kind of the opposite of that... I'm a lot more relaxed now and my body clock is no longer that of an owl. Conclusion: Well it's now day 15 and I'm still going strong having had only one weak mug of tea when I had a particularly bad headache (I don't really count chocolate as the amount is so small). The way caffeine works is by blocking receptors in your brain that normally tell you you're tired. In other words you're still tired, but your brain thinks you're not. This obviously isn't particularly good - our body gives us cues for a reason and ignoring them will only worsen the problem. I'm still going to have a mug of tea every now and then because I love it. But I'm not longer going to be hitting myself with 4-5 coffees at work and tea will now be just a special treat. So here are the reasons that I found first hand to give up caffeine. If they seem appealing to you maybe try giving it a go: Better sleep More normal body clock More energy in the mornings Less jittery and more relaxed When you do have caffeine you feel the effects more Additionally if you're one of the unfortunate people who have high sensitivity to caffeine it could even cause heart palpatations, panik attacks and insomnia. Not cool.