And what I love about “Never Back Down 2” is that Michael Jai White gets to play the kind of character we don’t normally see from him. In “Black Dynamite,” he was basically poking fun at his own tough guy image in “Blood and Bone” he was a stoic warrior who carefully chose each word. I wouldn’t say he’s more ‘laid back’ in “The Beatdown” but in his role as a teacher to four college-age Mixed Martial Arts students he gets to be a shit-talker, a mentor, a fighter, a father figure, and just an all around more relateable human being. This isn’t empty hype: “The Beatdown” is my favorite performance yet from White, who proves there’s more sides to him as an actor than we’ve previously witnessed. There’s a scene White filmed in close-up where he talks about his past and how Hurricane Katrina affected his family, and it’s the kind of authentic-feeling, emotionally-charged moment that White is rarely allowed to deliver. Although the screenplay’s main focus is on White’s students and the ups and downs of their personal lives, the heart of the film is definitely White’s teacher character.įunnily enough, most of Michael Jai White’s dramatic scenes are played against Evan Peters, who as far as I know is the only returning character from “Never Back Down” but you’re more likely to recognize him as one of the comic book geek friends in “Kick-Ass.” Comparing “The Beatdown” to the original, they’re entirely different entities.

The first movie was one of those flicks that I half-heartedly watched in the background when it was on TV but it was basically a high school exploitation movie about teenage kids getting into unrealistically violent street fights with overly slick camerawork.

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