If the screenwriter, filmmakers and cast had the maturity to really follow this philosophical throughline, then Never Back Down might have become a remarkable, entertaining and even smart movie. After being humiliated at a party by Ryan, Jake solicits the training of local martial arts instructor Jean Rocha (Djimon Housou) in order to take revenge, in the process discovering that the key to victory is sometimes not fighting at all. In addition to earning him instant recognition among his schoolmates - including the fetching Baja Miller (Amber Heard) - this brings him to the attention of Ryan McCarthy (Cam Gigandet), who currently hovers at the top of the high school food chain. Upon arriving, however, it appears that most of the school already knows who Jake is thanks to a YouTube clip of the fight that got him thrown out of school back home. Sean Faris ( Sleepover) plays Jake Tyler, a high school senior who moves with his mother and younger brother Charlie (Wyatt Tyler) to Orlando, Florida to escape his troubled past. Avildsen's 1984 underdog story, nor as inventive or philosophical as David Fincher's portrait of postmodern alienation. But it's neither as single-mindedly simple as John G. A film about a bunch of teenagers locked in an epic struggle for supremacy of an underground high school fight club, it's as silly and over the top as you might expect. Never Back Down is essentially the poor man's The Karate Kid, if Karate Kid was somehow released in response to Fight Club.