’s previous article has finished talking about the personal experience of Michael Jai White, currently the number one hit man in Hollywood. Now, let’s talk about his action classic “ Never Back Down ” series.
It is no exaggeration to say that Michael Jai White and Scott Adkins are the two true heroes in the current field of American action films. They have supported the American B-level action film market.
Putting the two of them together is a very interesting point in itself. They both rose in "The Ultimate Fighter 2". In one film, both of them became popular. And their subsequent paths to success were almost exactly the same.
Boyka played by Scott Adkins in "The Ultimate Fighter 2" was very popular, so the film studio continued to develop "The Ultimate Fighter 3" and "The Ultimate Fighter 4" for this character. In the latter two films, Michael Jai White, the protagonist of "The Ultimate Fighter 2", has completed his mission and does not appear again.
But Michael Jai White turned around and directed and starred in "Never Back Down 2", which made this series popular, and naturally continued to direct and star in "Never Back Down 3". After he left, the film producer took action on the IP again and continued filming "Never Back Down 4".
"The Ultimate Fighter" and "Never Back Down" were both filmed four times, and both have become the pinnacle series in the field of action movies. They have become the favorites of MMA fans and have become classics that can be watched again and again at gatherings of action fans.
Back to the beginning, "The Ultimate Fighter" is an action movie co-starred by Ving Rhames and Wesley Snipes. The cost is not high, but it has been unanimously recognized by action fans. However, the male protagonist Wesley Snipes was imprisoned by the American police for tax evasion. If the sequel was made directly, he would not be able to reprise his role. But the IP was already popular, and the film producers were unwilling to give up, so they hired Michael Jai White and Scott Adkins to star in "The Ultimate Fighter 2". In fact, it is not a sequel, but a remake. The story is almost The same story, just played out again with different roles. This is also a common way to make money in Hollywood, but I never expected that the performances of Michael Jai White and Scott Adkins were so great. They were far better than Levi Rhames and Wayans in the first film. Snipes, "The Ultimate Fighter 2" is also far better than "The Ultimate Fighter 2". They both became famous in one fell swoop and both became popular. When
becomes popular, we will strike while the iron is hot and move on. Shortly after the release of "The Ultimate Fighter 3" in 2010, which was built around Scott Adkins, "The Ultimate Fighter 2" directed and starring Michael Jai White was also released.
Interestingly, Michael Jai White copied the path of "The Ultimate Fighter 2". "Never Back Down 2", which he directed and starred in, is actually a remake of the 2008 "Never Back Down". The story is related, but it is almost a reinvention of the story, just like "The Ultimate Fighter 2" is a remake of the first film. Ministry's remake method.
Here, let’s briefly talk about “Never Back Down”.
Looking at it now, this action inspirational film does not have a big star starring, and the few young actors who starred in it did not really make it in the future, and none of them rose to become a big name. The one who is slightly famous is Evan Peters, a supporting actor in the film. He later played Quicksilver in "X-Men: Days of Future Past" and left a deep impression on people.
The connection between the story of "Never Back Down 2" and "Never Back Down" is also played by the character played by Evan Peters, but with a different actor.
As for other actors, the male lead Sean Faris has many scenes where he looks like a young Tom Cruise in a trance, and some say his eyes look like Cristiano Ronaldo. This is the only thing worth mentioning.
But this does not affect that "Never Back Down" is a qualified passionate action movie, and it is very inspirational and makes people's hearts surge.
As far as the story is concerned, "Never Back Down" tells the story of a young man who witnessed his father die in a car accident in front of him a few years ago. He always felt that it was the result of his failure to stop him in time, so he has been blaming himself and unable to do so. Stepping out of yourself, unable to forgive yourself, your temper becomes irritable and irritable.
Because of his strong body, he was also targeted by the local fighting champion and was constantly provoked.In order to change himself and get out of himself, the male protagonist began to practice fighting skills seriously. In the end, two young men who can fight finally entered the boxing ring and had a showdown.
There isn’t much to say about the story. The main thing is to look at the scenes. The fist-to-fist fighting is naturally the biggest highlight of the film.
By the way, the main villain in the film is played by Cam Gigandet. His more famous role is the villain vampire James in the first part of " The Twilight Saga ". Because of her eye-catching appearance, she attracted a lot of attention.
Because it is passionate and inspirational enough, "Never Back Down" won a small win back then. However, in the hearts of real mma fans, its status is not high because of flaws in the action design, low fighting level, and complete ground skills. It's not enough, because this film is only shot very beautifully, and the photographer knows the angles better, and can better capture the moments of fist-to-flesh fights under the changing lenses, and the level of tension and excitement soars. The disadvantage is that the fighting level is really not good enough, which is related to the fact that several actors are not action actors.
If there were no later "Never Back Down 2" and "Never Back Down 3", the original "Never Back Down" would probably be selectively forgotten. But the emergence of the sequel saved this IP and made it an immortal classic in the eyes of MMA fans.
However, there is a contradiction in this. From a purely appreciation point of view, the appreciation of the later "Never Back Down 2" and "Never Back Down 3" is actually not as good as "Never Back Down". This is Michael Jai White who succeeds and Michael Jai White who loses. At the action level, in terms of the professionalism of fighting, whether it is the technical characteristics of mma or the fighting characteristics, White has given a classic demonstration, which greatly enhanced the value of this IP and made it a classic. In real-life UFC competitions, to protect athletes, it is mandatory that many human body parts cannot be hit, and some boxing moves cannot be used. But in the film's story, because it involves black boxing, all restrictions are lifted, so the various characteristics of mma can be better displayed. This is also the greatest value of the role of Boyka in the "Ultimate Fighter" series. Scott Adkins fully demonstrated his leg skills through the film. Through the "Never Back Down" series, Michael Jai White showed off his offensive essence with his boxing skills and kicking skills.
However, as a director and screenwriter, White has great deficiencies in the arrangement of the story and the use of mirrors in the film. The story is no longer compact, the film picture is no longer beautiful, and the lighting is not bright enough. As an art of picture, the film has The last two films are not good-looking on screen, and for the audience, their enjoyment is simply reduced. Therefore, the last two films directed by White are slightly embarrassing. Action fans think they are classics among classics, but ordinary audiences think they are very average.
Our article is about the pinnacle of action movies, so we will only talk about action.
This is back to "The Ultimate Fighter 3". This film, in which Scott Adkins jumped from a supporting role in the second film to an absolute protagonist, is the best in the entire series. The fourth film is a bit of a continuation. . Turning the supporting character into the protagonist, "Never Back Down 2" uses the same skills as "The Ultimate Fighter 3" to upgrade "Never Back Down". Moreover, in order to highlight the professionalism of the action, many UFC athletes were invited to directly participate in the filming.
In "Never Back Down", the male protagonist finds a black coach for special training in order to practice fighting skills. As a result, this coach not only taught him boxing skills, but also taught him how to behave. He was really a good teacher and helpful friend. The black coach is played by Djimon Hounsou. He is also a powerful actor. He has won two Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor for his roles in "Blood Diamond " and "Go to Paradise".
In "Never Back Down 2", Michael Jai White played the role of the black coach played by Djimon Hounsou, and directly upgraded this original supporting role to the male lead.
In "Never Back Down", Djimon Hounsou's character doesn't have many roles, and he doesn't have much character depth or much characterization.In "Never Back Down 2", the coach played by Michael Jai White is a guy who was once in trouble. In order not to be harassed by the police, he just wants to live a mediocre life until several apprentices come to seek help. Help, let him practice mixed martial arts.
Four apprentices, each with their own troubles, all want to turn over. When these teachers and students get together, they have a collective feeling of wanting to turn over. The personal inspiration in the first part has become a group inspiration. The story has been upgraded, but it is also a bit confusing. There are too many clues for the audience to understand.
However, the advantage of having more people is that for action movies, different boxing styles can be shown by different people. The reason why "The Ultimate Fighter 3" is a classic is that it uses boxing masters from all over the world to maximize the network of masters in different action fields, and then launches fights between different boxing skills, from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to Korean Taekwondo to Indian yoga. From martial arts to ancient Greek boxing to American boxing, etc., fans in different action fields can find their favorite boxing duels, which are extremely exciting.
The excitement of "Never Back Down 2" lies not in the final final showdown, but in the process of several apprentices learning boxing skills. The final showdown could actually have been more exciting, but there was an obvious problem with the director's use of lenses. He always wanted to use a medium-long lens to show the panoramic view of the fighting scene, ignoring the details of the fists and the flesh, and failed to capture the wonderful moments of the fight. , and the light is always dim, which makes the look and feel not as bright as the first part.
The process of practicing boxing is more interesting than the process of dueling. Are there any movies like this?
has it. " Drunken Master " and " Mr. Zan and Zhaoqianhua " are all such classics, and even the process of practicing boxing in "Shaolin Temple" is extremely exciting. The process of practicing boxing itself is a process of growth. When it comes to the actual duel, it is just the last tremor.
People who like Wing Chun think that the " Ip Man " series is good, but the film that really shows the essence of Wing Chun is actually "Mr. Praise and Mr. Money Wah" starring Sammo Hung, which uses different techniques in Wing Chun. , different forms of expression and different playing methods have been decomposed and demonstrated in detail, which is a master. As for "Ip Man", it talks more about people than boxing skills. It only talks about Ip Man's personal image and does not go into detail about Wing Chun.
The exciting thing about "Never Back Down 2" is that Michael Jai White showed the details and characteristics of different boxing techniques such as boxing, wrestling, and Wing Chun by teaching four apprentices to learn mixed martial arts. Dayou Online The feeling of teaching. Therefore, it is understandable how true action fans will love "Never Back Down 2" as much as "The Ultimate Fighter 3".
The so-called mma is the abbreviation of mixed martial arts. Translated into Chinese, it means "mixed martial arts". It allows players to use boxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai, wrestling, taekwondo, karate, judo, Sanda and other techniques during the competition. , as long as you can defeat your opponent, you are free to use any technical moves you are good at. UFC is the highest competition in MMA. The former is an event and the latter is a form of sport. The "Never Back Down 2/3" series invited professional UFC athletes to participate in the filming in order to be professional and look good. Therefore, it is quite professional in terms of action, which is why MMA fans are pursuing this series.
But no matter what, "Never Back Down 2" is a bit awkward, and the distinction between the primary and secondary characters is too vague, making the film unsightly in terms of story. In "Never Back Down 3", it finally took the right path and completely established Michael Jai White's character as the absolute protagonist.
As a coach, it seems a little uncomfortable to go directly to the stage to box. In order to continue the storyline of the second part, in "Never Back Down 3", White still focuses on teaching boxing at the beginning, but the organizer of Black Boxing Knowing his reputation, he just wanted him to go on stage to box, so he framed his apprentice and forced White to go on stage to fight in person.
Compared with "Never Back Down 2", there are slightly fewer action scenes in this story. The story is much cleaner and no longer overgrown, but the extra emotional lines still make this originally action-oriented film become A lot lighter. Fortunately, as long as it is an action scene, because of the presence of Michael Jai White, it is still fierce and exciting.
Michael Jai White's skill has brought MMA to the camera very well. This film is still a classic among MMA fans. As for the end of the story, it also pays tribute to "Never Back Down" and puts the final ultimate fight under the ring. Although the protagonist and the villain have a duel, it is not the kind that the black boxing organizers want, making the protagonist in While defeating the villain boxer, he also attacked the black boxing organizer, killing two birds with one stone.
The embarrassing thing about "Never Back Down 2" and "Never Back Down 3" is that it only won the favor of action fans, especially mma lovers, but it did not win the hearts of the general audience and was not as good as the handsome guy in the first part. The pretty girls are so sexy, so the overall performance of these two sequels can only be unsatisfactory.
got "Never Back Down 4", and Michael Jai White quit completely, not only no longer acting, but no longer directing. The characters in the story have also changed from a man's story to mainly female characters, making this film a side story. There is no necessary connection with the first three films. It is just a charlatan with the same title. work.
The story of "Never Back Down 4" is actually quite good. It tries very hard to tell a story about trafficking in women. Moreover, the story of trafficked women working hard to achieve self-redemption has some feminist implications. As for the action scenes, they are much less watchable. It's like being used to watching men's football matches, and suddenly going to watch a women's football match, with all the tricks and a serious lack of confrontation, and you can't even whet your appetite.
It is of course possible to use action movies to talk about women's rights, but the first three parts of "Never Back Down" have successfully turned this series into a hard-hitting practical action movie. In the fourth part, it suddenly started to embroider and fight. The hard hitting of the meat disappears, which goes against the audience's expectations of watching the movie. In fact, it might be better to change the name of this film. It is not a good idea to sell it under the name "Never Back Down", and it did not really sell well, making this IP no longer possible.
The most unacceptable thing is that MMA giant Michael Bisping originally participated in "Never Back Down 4", but he is not the protagonist, nor the villain boss, just a dispensable thug. It doesn't really help the story, and I don't know what the point of participating in it is. As the only publicity point that could make a big fuss, he was even placed in the C position on the poster. It was a pity that he was missed so easily. Even action fans couldn't buy it.
The entire "Never Back Down" series, the first one featuring a combination of handsome guys and pretty girls, exciting action scenes, and inspiring growth stories, is the one with the highest overall score in the entire series. The second and third films, thanks to the addition of Michael Jai White, have raised the professionalism of the action scenes to a supreme level, making these two films action classics and well worth watching. However, the storytelling is slightly inferior, and the cinematography and other aspects of film technology presentation are not very good, which makes these two works have mixed praise and praise. Lovers will always love them, and detractors will despise them. As for the fourth part, it is just a tack, you can watch it or not.
