I'm a huge MMA fan and was looking forward to this so much. The result akin to leaving a restaurant after an evening meal still hungry. It just doesn't scratch the itch. Mamet wrote and directed this one and he did a bad job on both parts.
The cast was good on paper. The acting from Chiwetel Ejiofor was one of the films leading lights. He brought sincereness, warmth and good old fashion likability to the films main character who's personal code was based on honour. The other actors did nothing to inspire or impress me which is a shame considering the cast. This leads me to question Mamet's direction of them. Maybe he was within himself too much to lead the cast or gave them bad direction.
The story I can appreciate on some levels. The main character has a clear ethical code which dictates his actions. There were less obvious meanings to characters motivations and actions. It's all well and good not spoon feeding audiences and giving them credit for intelligence to work things out. However when that comes at the cost of an unclear, flimsy, disjointed story telling then just give me Rocky with MMA. Sadly I feel Mamet was too into his own story to take a step back and evaluate what's going on from an audiences point of view. He was trying to be too fancy and deep and just missed the mark.
Production values were OK but the movie never really sprung to life. Not enough action for me. The action present left me numb. Even the last action sequence left me flat and disappointed. There was never anything that made you sit up and draw you in which means you're never going to get a climax to the film.
As it stands Never Back Down is a better MMA film. I live in hope of an MMA film that delivers high on realistic action with strong characters and good story telling.
The cast was good on paper. The acting from Chiwetel Ejiofor was one of the films leading lights. He brought sincereness, warmth and good old fashion likability to the films main character who's personal code was based on honour. The other actors did nothing to inspire or impress me which is a shame considering the cast. This leads me to question Mamet's direction of them. Maybe he was within himself too much to lead the cast or gave them bad direction.
The story I can appreciate on some levels. The main character has a clear ethical code which dictates his actions. There were less obvious meanings to characters motivations and actions. It's all well and good not spoon feeding audiences and giving them credit for intelligence to work things out. However when that comes at the cost of an unclear, flimsy, disjointed story telling then just give me Rocky with MMA. Sadly I feel Mamet was too into his own story to take a step back and evaluate what's going on from an audiences point of view. He was trying to be too fancy and deep and just missed the mark.
Production values were OK but the movie never really sprung to life. Not enough action for me. The action present left me numb. Even the last action sequence left me flat and disappointed. There was never anything that made you sit up and draw you in which means you're never going to get a climax to the film.
As it stands Never Back Down is a better MMA film. I live in hope of an MMA film that delivers high on realistic action with strong characters and good story telling.