Never Surrender

Diego Carter (Echavarria) is a world-famous MMA fighter who is enticed by a mannish woman named Sandra (Koys) to join an underground Punchfighting circuit. It is run by the ruthless Seifer (Kilpatrick) - ruthless in the sense that what he's really running is a prostitution ring. He calls them "consorts", and if you win a match, you get a consort, or your opponent's consort, or something like that. It's all just a tawdry excuse to have Skinemax-style softcore * scenes with plenty of unwanted, un-asked for Hector Echavarria nudity. Ew. All this nonsense leads up to "The Tournament", presumably the ultimate battle for the ultimate consort. Also, Carter falls in love with Sandra. What's REALLY going on? This movie is like a 90-minute training video for Hector Echavarria. Somehow he was allowed to direct this thing, and it has all the inept editing and strange cuts you might expect. You never see blows connect because there's an unnecessary cut right before the blow lands.Undue emphasis is put on the fact that he uses the late night-advertised product the Perfect Pushup in his training rituals. Echavarria invited all his fighter buddies to be in the movie, whether they belong there or not, and they even go by some of their real names. In the beginning of the film, two burly men in shorts are grappling, grunting and sweating while a song with the lyrics "45 minutes of Loooove" plays. Then they grab each other's legs for the takedown. Wags who would decry these movies as homoerotic...may have a point here. Also it should be noted that Diego's "...punches carry the dream of a small child who grew up off the coast of La Plata." Naturally, The Tournament has "no rules and no referees", and Seifer notes, "is tax free". Is this a comment on today's political landscape? I know I go to modern-day Punchfighters for top-shelf punditry. Patrick Kilpatrick looks like Howie Mandel now, and screams and yells just like Nick Mancuso in Death Warrior. However, this movie makes Death Warrior look like a masterpiece. James Russo is barely in it, which was a disappointment.On the bright side, Crusher's involved. Overall, this movie is beyond dumb. Its structure resembles a brainless video game, but with more grunting. for more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

If I could give this excuse for a film a 0/10 rating, I would. I've seen plenty of bad made-for-TV flicks, and am a fan of the B-movie genre, but this movie is absolutely not self-conscious or tongue-in-cheek; it's simply a piece of crap unaware of how very, very bad it is. I'd try to summarize the plot, but honestly, it was incomprehensible. A bizarre train wreck of muscle-heads, TERRIBLY choreographed scenes, staged "MMA fights" that make pro wrestling look good, chicks with fake tits, weirdly-placed shots of sunsets, McMansions, and expensive cars ensues that is sure to make your stomach gurgle. Also, everyone in this movie inexplicably seems to have the same weird, watered-down South American accent. Curiouser and curiouser... MMA enthusiasts should not be fooled! The presence of UFC greats GSP, Anderson Silva, B.J. Penn, and Heath Herring DOES NOT make Never Surrender more watchable. I actually found the moments when these guys were randomly inserted into the movie to be the most cringe-worthy. Seeing Echavarria "beat up" (Seriously. A line in this film: "I can beat up anyone!") amazing athletes that could crush him in two seconds in real life is too embarrassing to look at. It's pretty sad to see guys who have worked hard for years to make MMA a legitimate sport look like chumps for this amateur film-maker's amusement. The bottom line: this is a masturbatory film project made by a washed-up kickboxer looking to keep his name alive. Echavarria's bad taste just might qualify as a life-threatening illness and if there were such a thing as the Make-A-Wish Foundation for mid-life crises sufferers, Lionsgate granted his wish when it picked up Never Surrender for distribution.

The cover tricked me into renting this film. The UFC fighters pictured on the front cover are only in the film for a brief period of time. The acting is poor, and plot is poor. However, the film did keep me slightly entertained, despite being a poor film. If you are a fan of mixed martial arts, do not rent the film. I am a moderate fan, but quickly decided that I do not view this film for authenticity of mixed martial arts, instead I viewed it as entertainment. The fights scenes do not resemble fighting or mixed martial arts. It is more like violent dancing. Very unrealistic fights. Overall, the film is bad, and I honestly felt embarrassed that I was watching it at times. A 4/10 is a bit easy, I probably should have voted 3.

NEVER SURRENDER There really is not a lot positive I can say about this movie. It was terrible. The story was bad, the acting was worst and the fighting scenes were comical. It was about a champion MMA fighter who sees a girl in a club that he likes. She introduces him to a bloke who runs an illegal cage fighting tournament. This tournament is dangerous and people can get seriously injured or even die. The movie then becomes a revenge movie as the owner of this company kills one of his friends in a fight and beats up his girlfriend and a few other women. I have not seen acting this bad for a long time. Not one person in the film was convincing as their character. All completely square and boring. Although there is one guy in the film that has a really fake accent... it is funny. He made me laugh a few times in the movie. The fighting scenes were worst than watching professional wrestling. WWE is more realistic. haha What makes me laugh is on the front cover of the DVD, the biggest pictures is of Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson... he is int he movie for about 2 minutes... he has one bad street fight scene and that's him done for the whole movie. I am surprised anyone hired him after this. There is nothing but bad acting, bad fighting and sex through the whole film! I will give this 3 out of 10. The tag line on the poster says: "THE WORLD'S TOP MMA FIGHTERS IN THEIR FIRST FEATURE FILM"... it should say on the end of that... AND THEIR LAST! For more reviews, please like my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ordinary-Person-Movie- Reviews/456572047728204?ref=tn_tnmn

If you can watch the movie and try to be positive about it and see the fun of it (even and especially the unintentional fun of it, like in the bad acting), you might enjoy it. If this still doesn't work for you, take the title and try not to surrender before the end credits roll. You might like the music ... or the action ... or the women. But all in all, as you can see by the rating, you will likely not like the movie. I only got interested into the movie, because I heard they released the movie in a cut version in Germany. I can't tell you exactly what they cut out, but it wasn't the "softcore action" of the movie. It must have been a bit of the fighting, that goes on. And to be honest, if you like/love the 80s style US Martial Arts movies, you might more than enjoy this. And if it were shot in the 80s, van Damme would've been the first one to call for this! No offense to the writer/director/producer AND main actor of this, but he can would have been the better choice ... especially because he can act quite a bit more, than the guy on hand here. What kinda bugs me though, is that the guys, that seem to be able to hold their own (acting wise), get shoved to minor roles. Especially the Georges St. Peter guy and the Rampage guy (I think that's what he's called). If they would've been longer in the movie, it would have helped immensely!

I had low expectations when I rented this movie. I was not prepared for this piece of trash movie! It was horrible! I'm almost at a loss of words for how bad this movie is. If your going to watch it here's a few things you are sure to be laughing at because the cheese is on thick: 1. The funniest scene has to be when Heath herring is training Diego, Diego is doing pushups using "Perfect pushup" The camera zooms in on the device for like 5 seconds lol I cracked up it is so cheesy. 2. Voice over of George St. Pierre. At first you'll be like what the F**k? Then you'll laugh it is so lame. GSP can speak English fine why the hell did they do a voice over? lol 3. UFC fighters acting. I love all the fighters who played roles in this film but they are not actors. I feel bad for them but it is just so cheesy how can you not laugh? 4. The writer/director/star actor/etc Hector glorifies himself shamelessly it is literally laughable. Going into this movie I had no idea he was so involved and I didn't even know the guy. But it is very apparent that he had total control over this film. This movie is that terrible, the worst movie I have ever seen! I cannot believe anyone would give this guy Hector money to make another movie. I cannot tell you how bad this movie is. It's far worse than anything I've ever seen.

Its the best worst movie ever! The MMA version of the Disaster Artist. It was an honor getting beat up by Hector in the opening scene so you can say I m a biased opinion. Enjoy and laugh and notice how many sex scenes the director Hector cast himself in, brilliant!

The only people who will not vomit their guts out after watching this film will be UFC fans. If it was not for the cameos this heap eh shite would literally sell 0 copies. It's absolutely guaranteed that the only copies sold are solely for the cameos. The film, has no story. It's basically a bunch of ludicrously over-the-top 'characters' mincing around in slo-mo while talking to each other mid-fight. It seems to me that the person who came up with the idea of the film has had no part in it's creation. It looks like it's been made by someone who has never seen an MMA fight and has an obsession with slow motion sex scenes. It's boring, slow, and an hour and a half too long.

I gave the movie a 2 when it should have gotten a 1 instead but i have reasons. First of all this comment basically goes out to people like me who are hardcore MMA and UFC fans because if you aren't this movie will be TORTURE! The main character is enough to make this movie a horrible experience. His acting is ridiculous as he changes accents by the minute. First he sounds like a normal person then like a mentally challenged person and then like an Italian taxi driver that doesn't have a clue of whats going on. Another thing is that he is ridiculously old and he doesn't seem fit at all (even though he throws flying kicks in the air that even Chuck Norris wouldn't be able to pull of AND he doesn't even break a sweat after his so called championship fight). Mainly everything is bad in this movie including directing and voice overs but for those people who are absolute hardcore fans of UFC and MMA there is a chance that it wont suck as much. Of course you get a kick out of watching big names like St-Pierre,Penn,Rampage,Silva and Herring. Having them actually participate in a movie even though for a short while might entertain you. Though I have to warn you the movie is so bad that even these REAL MMA fighters have a few flaws in the movie like St-Pierre having a totally off and weird accent while Rampage and Penn have ridiculous fighting scenes on the streets. In the end it all comes down to you. If you are as big as a fan as I am when it comes to the UFC and MMA you could watch it but a strongly advise you to only watch the scenes with the REAL MMA stars.

This might contain spoilers The high point of the movie is seeing a lot of MMA stars acting, all of them need to polish their acting skills, the best of them was Gorge st Pierre, but let's face it, these are fighters, not actors, lets think of their participation on the movie as cameos... now the "big" (phun intended) Actor/director/writer/producer of this movie has no excuse , his acting is as the title said, ooh so bad, really really bad, speaks on clichés, and all... physically, he stays in good shape, for a 45 year old desk jockey, not a MMA fighter, he surely can kick my ass with one hand, and can make at least 3 push-ups with one hand... but physically has no muscle definition and a nice beer gut, hardly your average action hero, never the less he can take guys 3 times his size (made of muscle) without breaking a sweet... cmon, the girls... sure there is a lot of T & A but hardy worth to endure the rest of the movie, you are best off renting some softcore