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Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown

Play trailer Poster for Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown R 2011 1h 39m Action Play Trailer Watchlist
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Four fighters-in-training band together to root out a traitor in their midst after their mentor (Michael Jai White) is framed by corrupt cops.
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Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown

Critics Reviews

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Brian Costello Common Sense Media Sequel with amateur acting, weak story, lots of MMA violence Rated: 1/5 Apr 18, 2018 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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The H it is a three, never going back down from that Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 11/06/23 Full Review Audience Member Better than expected and better than reviewed. A stand alone sequel about an ex-con teaching martial arts to some kids preparing for an underground cage fighting ring. Michael Jai White is really good in this. Better than the movie itself. Good fighting. A few good cameos. A lot of homage to modern MMA (and Enter the Dragon). The acting, aside from White, is weak. Evan Peters is fun. The directing is good and fight choreography better. The dialogue is weak. The soundtrack is completely dated and out of place. Yet it all ties together with the whole being bigger than the sum of the parts. MJW fights add a 1/2 star. You see from the fight scenes why MJW was crowned "The Black Dragon" by Ron Van Clief. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review Audience Member It wasn't what I was expecting from the preview but that turned out to be a good thing. Yeah the dialogue is cheesy at times and the drama is cliche but the story holds your interest. Before I watched I didn't like MMA, being more a fan of the finesse of boxing. After watching this I must say, I'm still not a fan of MMA. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Audience Member cool movie, but i cant download it on any of my movie sites.... Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Audience Member Rotten to the core. I mean, okay, let's start with the positives. Michael Jai White is actually a great actor - very believable, but who ever wrote this script...I could eat alphabet soup and crap a better script: It was the picture of incoherence. I mean who is the freaking villain here? The nerdy guy shaves his head and then just starts acting like an a-hole? Why? What caused this? And the the guy is going for the girl who is with the guy who's not really the villain but a friend because...wtf! I mean this freaking movie could have cut 30 minutes of this meandering nonsensical BS, kept the fight scenes and been pretty good. The big guy's big cross to bear is that his mom is a stripper, but then we never hear how that get's resolved, but then he beats up some toughs in a bar and makes $400 a night but doesn't tell his mom so she doesn't have to strip anymore? WTF! Oh yeah and the nerdy villain assaults him with an asp and he doesn't do anything about it? Michael Jai White asks, "What happened to your leg?" and he goes, "Long story," WTF! Say: "That m-f-er just beat the crap out of me with an asp!" LOL. So unbelievable stupid. It had potential but whoever wrote this script is only slightly better than the guy who wrote "The Room." "The Room" is a cult classic, famous for how nonsensical the plot is (what is the plot?). I think the guy who wrote this movie saw "The Room" and said, "What if Tommy Wiseau was an MMA fighter?" For all you struggling screenwriters out there, I have some words of inspiration: If this trash can get greenlit, your screenplay being produced is more than possible. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Audience Member Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown is about as good as one would expect a direct-to-DVD sequel to an MMA film to be. Michael Jai White is one of the most talented fighters in Hollywood, and his performance was the best thing about this film, as was his direction. The rest of the performances, particularly from Scottie Epstein, were absolutely abysmal. Todd Duffee can be forgiven, because he isn't an actor. The two leads (aside from MJW), gave mediocre performances at best. But the one that angered me most was the "villain" of the film, the character portrayed by Epstein. I have no question as to why I've never seen him in anything else. He is awful. The MMA showcases were, as with the first film, done well for the most part. They are, after all, the main draw of the film. I'm glad I watched it, if for no other reason than Michael Jai White, but I wouldn't call it a "good" movie, per se. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis Four fighters-in-training band together to root out a traitor in their midst after their mentor (Michael Jai White) is framed by corrupt cops.
Director
Michael Jai White
Producer
Craig Baumgarten, David Zelon
Screenwriter
Chris Hauty
Production Co
Mandalay Pictures
Rating
R (Nudity|Brutal Violence|Pervasive Language|Some Sexual Content)
Genre
Action
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 16, 2012
Runtime
1h 39m
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