The sports drama and simultaneously the action movie directed by Jeff Wadlow “Never Give Up” (actors: charming Sean Faris, charismatic Cam Gigandet and beautiful Amber Heard) managed to gain impressive popularity in a short time and is still considered one of the brightest and best movie of its kind.
Karate Boy Plus Rocky IV
After the release of the film, most film critics agreed that the plot and the general atmosphere of the film resemble the narrative of the popular and sensational at one time the films "Rocky IV" and "Karate Boy." Indeed, the plot action is built around a cool youth scuffle, however, the plot does not become an endless tedious series of fights of different levels of difficulty of production. The intrigue is initially absent, the climax can be predicted at the very beginning of the film, but, nevertheless, the picture is becoming quite popular. Naturally, literally three years later, in 2011 the movie “Never Give Up 2” was released, the actors of which are also young, but not so charismatic. And the sequel fails to achieve the popularity of the original.
Plot. Start
The protagonist, Jake Tyler (Sean Faris), is a difficult teenager, even though he is the captain of a school football team in a small town in the outback of Iowa. However, the guy’s family moves to the city of Orlando in the sultry state of Florida, so that Jake’s younger brother Charlie (White Smith) could make a tennis career. In the new environment, Jake becomes an outcast. But at the same time, he quickly falls in love with a classmate - a pretty Bach (Amber Heard), and also manages to fight with a local authority - the bully Ryan McCarthy (Cam Gigandet). That's how the movie “Never Give Up” begins. Photos of the actors, posted on an advertising poster, promised the viewer a promising development of the plot in the future. And so it turned out in reality.
Defeat as a motivation for excellence
After a shameful defeat in an impromptu match, the protagonist makes friends with his classmate Max (Evan Peters). It is he who tells Jake about the local sport - mixed martial arts, which are very popular. A new friend insists on meeting the main character with a trainer and ex-fighter Jean Rokua (Jimon Honsu), who is able to make Tyler a champion in SBI. The young man agrees. But as soon as it begins to seem to him that his personal life and “career” are getting better, everything turns upside down: in the society of lovers of this ambiguous sport, there are those who are capable of putting wheels in wheels and spinning vile intrigues out of self-interest. There is no need to continue in all details the retelling of the storyline, because the film "Never Give Up" (whose actors became stars of youth cinema immediately after the premiere) is better to watch.
Without pathos and tension
If you try to characterize the picture, noting all the positive and successful points, you should definitely note: a good game of young (not yet familiar on the screen) actors, an easy plot, professional camera work, realistic fights and an exceptional happy ending. Separate must be said about the battle setting and it is necessary to express gratitude to the creators of the film “Never Give Up” (the actors are known to everyone, but the stunt doubles and stuntmen were out of work again). If we compare the staging of the battles of this film with the very well-known “Fights without rules” with Channing Tatum, then in the first movie the fights are much more dynamic, brighter and more realistic, without any jumping on the cables of the a la “Matrix”. With all of the above, the picture also has a moral component, which is presented to the viewer without undue tension and pathos. Throughout the tape, Jake grows up, becomes more responsible and, most importantly, all this without a pathetic waving striped star flag.
Actors and roles
The actors of the movie "Never Give Up", despite the lack of sufficient experience in the cinema, play believable, though not perfect. Roles performed by:
- Sean Faris - the same Jake Tyler;
- Jimon Honsu - Jean Roque Mentor
- Amber Heard - the beloved of the protagonist Bach Miller;
- Cam Gigandet - bully fighter Ryan McCarthy;
- Evan Peters - Max Cooperman;
- Leslie Hope - mother of hl hero Margot Tyler;
- Viat Smith - father of hl Charlie Tyler
The main idea on the surface
The film is a simple dramatic design with a great many "cinema" assumptions. According to critics, the actors of the film played well, but the characters were "cardboard". Moreover, the moral of the picture is trivial and straightforward. But with all this infantile simplicity, banality and frivolity, the film, no doubt, has become a very prominent representative of its genre. The film “Never Give Up, whose actors conveyed the semantic background in its purest form - in dialogs, gives teenagers the motivation for self-development. Moreover, the main idea lies on the surface. So there is no need to strain and especially think about the main idea that the creators of the tape wanted to convey to the viewer. Modern youth will definitely appreciate this, while the movie is very interesting and looks in one breath.