As a fan of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), it pained me to see the preview for the new movie "Never Back Down" all over TV recently.This is just another example of Hollywood trying to capitalize on a sport that is growing in popularity with the 18-34 year-old demographic in the United States.
It's not like I can blame them. With a production budget of $20 million, the film has already grossed a little over $22 million domestically and over $23 million worldwide. That my friends is a profit - and not yet including DVD sales later this year.
(Source: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/id=neverbackdown.htm)
But when you are a fan of a sport like this, the last thing you want to see is a production company trying to make it "look cool" when they clearly don't even understand the sport to begin with.
From the clips of the movie I've seen, they don't seem to get the first concept of MMA - RESPECT. Sportsmanship is a huge part of Mixed Martial Arts and this film instead portrays it as more of a "street fight" with MMA gloves. Granted, the film does move in a different direction when the main character Jake Tyler (played by Sean Faris) realizes he has to train to actually be good at the sport. What a concept!
Listen, I know there is a demographic for a movie like this out there. I'm sure little kids across America begged to be dropped off at the movie theatre a few weeks ago when this movie came out. But that isn't the audience who normally watches the real form of MMA. They just think it is cool or the current "fad" right now (what pro wrestling was in the late 1990s-early 2000s). This movie is basically the "Karate Kid" of this generation or what "Fast and the Furious" was a few years ago when cars becaming all the rage once again.
It's really sad what Hollywood will do to make a buck these days.
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