Never Surrender (2009) Reviews

• I can't believe I watched this movie to the end

  bhillbilly0032009-06-09

  First off, I am a big MMA fan, so I decided to check this out. I should have came here (IMDB) first, but decided to watch it blindly. Second of all, what was the point of putting in the cameo fighters other than to draw you into a horribly plotted, poorly written, pathetically executed soft core porn with less than any sort of believable fighting...oh I know...to sell tickets or get people to rent the POS...ugggg!!! This has to be one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The only good part about it was that it was so bad it made me laugh at such "talent" and "acting skills" lmao...I have seen 4th grade plays with more direction and talent. Bravo for such a good effort! Heeheeehaww!!

• One of the worst Martial Arts movies, EVER!

  smokecombs2009-08-13

  I couldn't really believe how terrible this movie was. T and A couldn't even save this (well, maybe if it had been better looking T and A). Basically this is a poor movie in all categories and is basically, as many reviewers have claimed, a softcore porn movie like you see on Cinemax or Showtime late at night. Don't get me wrong, I love MMA. I have interviewed Quinton Jackson and I love B.J. Penn, G.S.P., Anderson Silva and Heath Herring and I'm loving that they got a chance to make some money without taking the bumps and bruises they normally get in the ring. However the acting was probably the worst of any movie I've ever seen. G.S.P. and all the guys could probably get a little better, and I actually thought that Heath Herring was the freakin star of the entire movie in terms of acting ability. The main character, who I guess is supposed to be the experienced actor is the worst I believe I've ever seen. I literally almost turned the movie off and I'll watch almost any martial arts movie to the end. As for breaking down the areas of the movie. There was hardly any training sequences, mainly in between fights it was just a bunch of sex scenes (usually sex is historically a big no-no before fights). So I would give this a 0 in terms of training. I like my martial arts movies to show some training techniques and the more of them they are, the more aspects of training they show, and the realism of the training the better he movie. This one had none of that. As for the actual action, it was pretty terrible there as well. I will rate it a 4, simply because of my true life MMA guys. They didn't get to show off enough of their skill, nor where they even given some roles where they could maybe use some Hollywood effects to supe them up a little bit. But just being generous I'm giving it a 4 in terms of overall fight scenes and action, the fighting was fairly realistic. The acting was truly the low point of a movie that I really can't find many high points. I don't usually, or ever worry about the acting in these type of movies as long as the action is kick a** and the fighting is either very realistic, or a good back and forth between the main hero and villain, or something innovative in terms of the fight choreography. This movie had none of that, as well as even worse acting than even the lowest of this genre. Since martial arts movies aren't known for Robert Deniro type performances and saying that this movie is the worst I've seen thus far that would put my acting rating in the negatives. The lead character is terrible, the lead villain is OK and I'm a fan of his and always have been. He far outshines anyone else in the movie and I was actually hoping he would beat the crap out of the main good guy (I hope he did accidentally belt him in a few of the takes). And the supporting acting of MMA fighter, Heath Herring was pretty decent too, especially considering as many hard tough fights that Heath has had in real life. He seems really sharp still, no signs of any damage from all his fights and he seems to have a natural talent for acting if he wanted to do that. Still, when your lead character is so bad the movie is gonna be bad. For it's genre I would rate the acting of this movie as a 3 (only because of Herring and lead villain Patrick Kilpatrick). I would rate it a 1 or a 0 if not for those 2 guys. In terms of overall genres of movies, this movie gets a 0. Action 4 Acting in Martial Arts Genre 3 Acting Overall Genres 0 Story Martial Arts Genre 1 Story overall Genres 0 (I should give it negatives) In closing, if you're a die-hard martial arts/kung fun movie fan, you may still regret watching this. If you are martial arts movie fan, plus huge MMA fan and really like George St Pierre, BJ Penn, Quinton Jackson, Heath Herring, or Anderson Silva then you might want to give this a watch just to see those guys. I would steer clear of this unless there is totally nothing else on. I also wouldn't buy this movie unless it is found at a yard sale or something for under a dollar. I don't really know if it's worth a rental, unless you are really curious and can find it at a Redbox.

• MY SWEET Jesus!!! Hector Echavarria should be hung!

  williamjflow2009-07-14

  Hector Echavarria please for the love of the movie going public never make a movie ever again! You make everyone sound like a Mexican, GSP's voice might be the funniest thing ever! Also, if you watch late night HBO porn, this movie actually has worse actors! BJ Penn and Rampage have a sweet 1 minute cameo, and I actually gave up on the movie before I ever saw Anderon Slyva. This movie consists of round house kicks, sex, huge haymakers, sex, jumping back fists, sex, terrible lead acting, sex and Hector Echavarria attempts to be an MMA god and fails miserbly. So, in closing, Hector Echavarria please attempt another career because movie making is not in your future. I heard Billy Mays job is open, you might have a good shot at that!

• 20 minutes in and I was ready to tap

  ThoughtCriminal842009-04-25

  I don't think I gave away any spoilers, but I checked the box just to be safe... I, like most that might be thinking of watching this film, was sucked into it because I'm a huge MMA fan and I couldn't pass up the chance to see some of my favorite fighters in a movie. Rampage and Anderson Silva are my personal favs, not to mention GSP and Penn. So I ignored the bad reviews and low scores and sat down to watch what I thought would be a fun little action movie. I mean, I love a good bad movie. (Manos anyone?) Heres what I got instead: The main actor (the "Hero" if you will) looks about 20 years too old to be fighting anyone and that alone takes away from the realism right away. Then, the lead actress is probably the worst looking girl in a movie full of butter-faces. and then you've got the fact that it seems as if they didn't have any microphones during filming because EVERY LINE is dubbed in. They even had someone else dub in GSP's lines for him! (c'mon, his accent isn't THAT bad). There's 3 or 4 cringe worthy Skinamax-style sex scenes that serve no plot purpose. There's hardly any plot to speak of really. There's nothing remotely likable about any of the characters. The soundtrack is b-movie emo-pop-punk bile and every song sounds the same as the last one. Worst of all, the MAIN PURPOSE of the film, the fight scenes, are horrible. They start off with some "ROUND ONE! FIGHT!"-style intro, and then its 4 minutes of extreme closeups, shaky cameras and unrealistic MMA. They look more like outtakes from Street Fighter or Kickboxer than they do MMA fights. and as a cherry on top, the fighter cameos are a joke. I don't know how they talked them into being in the film (because by the looks of it, this movie was made for 14 bucks), but blink and you'll miss Rampage, Penn and Silva have 2 quick fights and GSP has probably the best fight in the film. But remember, thats only relative to the suck-fest that is this movie. I was able to watch the whole thing, but it took me 4 sessions. And I only forced myself so I could get on, write this review and hopefully save someone else 90 minutes. But I know if you're looking into this movie and reading reviews, you've probably made up your mind to watch it no matter what, as I had. or... just this once, you could take a strangers advice and stay away. it really isn't worth it, its not the kind of bad thats fun. its the kind of bad thats just painful. go watch Never Back Down instead. because as dumb and unrealistic as that movie was, at least the fight scenes were somewhat fun to watch and it felt like a movie. Never Surrender feels more like a 90 minute practical joke on the viewer.

• Kick Boxer reinvented - MMA mixed with Soft Porn

  OrderedChaos2009-04-18

  I give this flick 1* because GSP is i the film. Other then that it is simply Kick boxer spliced into MMA with loads of soft porn. Through every second of this film my partner and i couldn't figure out why anyone would make this crap? It was so bad we turned it off near to the end. I love UFC and ill say this much, If you have no brain cells and get off on thee most unrealistic fights scenes ever and like your soft porn = Buy and cherish this flick ;) Although if you are a die hard UFC fan then you will obviously have to add this one to your collection. Unwrapped and dusty it'll be though ;)