Never Surrender (2009)

Director:

Hector Echavarria

Writers:

David Storey (screenplay) and
Hector Echavarria (writer)

Release Date:

3 October 2010 (France)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

One arena. No rules. All pain.

Plot:

From the cage to the big screen, the world's greatest Mixed Martial Arts Champions come together for the first time in a major motion picture...

Plot Keywords:

Mixed Martial Arts | Underground Fighting | Cage Fighting | Martial Arts | Female Nudity

Cast

Hector Echavarria	...	Diego Carter
Patrick Kilpatrick	...	Seifer
James Russo	...	Jimmy
Silvia Koys	...	Sandra
Anderson Silva	...	Spider
Georges St-Pierre	...	Georges
B.J. Penn
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Flaviano Arroyo	...	Bodyguard
Fileena Bahris	...	Club Girl
Joanne Bahris	...	Lady at bar
Will C.	...	Body Guard
Carey A. Campbell	...	Bookie
Lateef Crowder	...	Marco
Eamon Glennon	...	Richie
Heath Herring	...	Stone
Fabiano Iha	...	John
Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson
Sabrina Machado	...	Monique
Teresa Noreen	...	Dream Angel
Damian Perkins	...	Diamond
Jesse Pruett	...	Lead Singer in Band
Javier Rivas	...	Rich man
Cristina N. Rose	...	Marcela (as Cristina Rosas)
Gino Salvano	...	Scarred Man
Gunter Schlierkamp	...	Crusher
Jessica Simons	...	Exotic Wealthy Woman
Brooke Stadler	...	Diego's Fan
Cheryl Lynn Stallard	...	Celesta
David Michael Toscano	...	Waiter
Giulini Wever	...	Dream Angel
Joe Willand	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Dustin Zahursky	...	Bill West
Jesse David Ing	...	Bodyguard (uncredited)

Directed by
Hector Echavarria

Writing credits
David Storey		(screenplay)
Hector Echavarria		writer

Produced by
Alejandro Arico	....	associate producer
Ryan S. Black	....	associate producer
Barry Brooker	....	executive producer
Alan B. Bursteen	....	executive producer
Fuad C'Amanero	....	associate producer
Brenda Doby	....	executive producer
Hector Echavarria	....	producer
Erick Geisler	....	producer
Patrick Kilpatrick	....	producer
Damian Perkins	....	associate producer
Curtis Petersen	....	producer
Guadalupe Rosas	....	associate producer
Ken Schwenker	....	producer
Stan Wertlieb	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Evan Evans

Cinematography by
Curtis Petersen

Film Editing by
Eamon Glennon

Casting by
Guadalupe Rosas

Production Design by
Chris Bell

Costume Design by
Glenda Maddox

Makeup Department
Ashley Cordova	....	makeup artist
Bruna Nogueira	....	makeup department head

Production Management
Carey A. Campbell	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Bryan Boardley	....	second assistant director
Sarah Grant	....	second second assistant director
Travis Huff	....	first assistant director
Thomas Martin	....	second unit director
Curtis Petersen	....	second unit director

Sound Department
Leandro Cassan	....	sound editor
Patrick Dunnam	....	sound effects editor
Judah Getz	....	adr mixer
John Sanacore	....	foley mixer
Henry Torbin	....	sound mixer
Alex Ullrich	....	foley artist

Visual Effects by
Alden Anderson	....	visual effects
Andrew Curry	....	visual effects supervisor
Enrique Torres	....	visual effects

Stunts
George Crayton	....	stunts
Dusty Hyland	....	assistant stunt coordinator
Dusty Hyland	....	stunt double
Philip J Silvera	....	stunt performer

Camera and Electrical Department
Alden Anderson	....	digital cinematographer
Jeff Carolan	....	gaffer
Zakk Eginton	....	camera operator
Arturo Elizondo	....	rigging gaffer
Arturo Elizondo	....	set lighting technician
Dave Jacobsen	....	second assistant camera
Ben Kobbs	....	first assistant camera
Thomas Martin	....	camera operator
Thomas Martin	....	director of photography: second unit
Tiffany Nathanson	....	second assistant camera
Curtis Petersen	....	camera operator
Matt Sanderson	....	key film loader
Paul Summers	....	dolly grip
Tom Whitehead	....	best boy

Casting Department
Joe Guinan	....	extras casting
Patrick Johnson	....	additional casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Fileena Bahris	....	jewelry designer
J.D. Nielsen	....	assistant costume designer

Editorial Department
Roger La Prairie	....	colorist: dailies
Henry Torbin	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Dane Angotti	....	pre-mastering engineer
Andrea Baxter	....	composer: additional music
Theo Bishop	....	music project manager
Spencer Blair	....	composer: additional music
Mark Brisbane	....	composer: additional music
Marina Brovak	....	composer: additional music
Alan Brown	....	music production administration
Michael Cacioppo	....	composer: additional music
Wes Costello	....	music production administration
Shaun Drew	....	song supervisor
Evan Evans	....	music supervisor
Evan Evans	....	score supervisor
Will Forbes	....	composer: additional music
Tom Fox	....	composer: additional music
Matt Gates	....	composer: additional music
Matt Gates	....	music editor
Ed Kalnins	....	music editor
Casey Kealoha	....	music editor
Dave Klotz	....	composer: additional music
Ben Kopec	....	composer: additional music
Francois Letiec	....	composer: additional music (as Francois Leteic)
Steven McClain	....	composer: additional music
Lee Miller	....	composer: additional music
Lee Miller	....	music project manager
Joe Quaranto	....	composer: additional music
R.J. Ronquillo	....	composer: additional music
Tatu Rytkonen	....	composer: additional music
Mehdi Safa	....	composer: additional music
Joe Solo	....	composer: additional music
Chris Spurgat	....	composer: additional music
David Tkaczuk	....	composer: additional music
Joseph Trapanese	....	composer: additional music
Jonathan Vincent	....	composer: additional music

Other crew
Carey A. Campbell	....	location manager
Paul Edward Clark	....	production assistant (as Paul Clark)
Michael Coulombe	....	script supervisor
Anthony Eikner	....	armorer
Nicole Flowers	....	production accountant
Jesse David Ing	....	director: making-of documentary (as Jesse Ing)
Efka Kvaraciejus	....	assistant: director
Kami Norton	....	production coordinator
Kera O'Bryon	....	adr actor
Crispin Howard Sandford	....	assistant production coordinator
Corbett Uzel	....	financing
Daniel Worlock	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Destiny Entertainment Productions
• Suenos Del Cielo Ent.

Distributors

• Lionsgate (2009) (USA) (all media)
• Grindstone Entertainment Group (2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2010) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Elephant Films (2010) (France) (video)
• Granada Media (2009) (non-USA) (all media)
• IPA Asia Pacific (2009) (Thailand) (DVD)
• IPA Asia Pacific (2009) (Vietnam) (DVD)
• Krause & Schneider Multimedia (KSM) (2009) (Germany) (DVD)
• New City Releasing (2009) (USA) (TV)
• SBS6 (2012) (Netherlands) (TV)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2010) (Australia) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Actors & Background Casting (AB)  extras casting
• Anarchy Post  sound post-production
• Composer Collective  soundtrack
• FilmBankers International  financing arranged by (FBI)
• National Bank of California  financing provided by
• PPI Camera Corporation  camera dollies
• PPI Camera Corporation  camera equipment provided by
• PPI Camera Corporation  grip and lighting equipment

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexual content, graphic nudity, violence and some language

Runtime:

USA:87 min (DVD)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:R | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Australia:R (2010) | Germany:18

Company:

Destiny Entertainment Productions

Soundtrack:

Anthem for the Underdog

One of the worst Martial Arts movies, EVER!

I couldn't really believe how terrible this movie was. T and A couldn't even save this (well, maybe if it had been better looking T and A). Basically this is a poor movie in all categories and is basically, as many reviewers have claimed, a softcore porn movie like you see on Cinemax or Showtime late at night.

Don't get me wrong, I love MMA. I have interviewed Quinton Jackson and I love B.J. Penn, G.S.P., Anderson Silva and Heath Herring and I'm loving that they got a chance to make some money without taking the bumps and bruises they normally get in the ring. However the acting was probably the worst of any movie I've ever seen. G.S.P. and all the guys could probably get a little better, and I actually thought that Heath Herring was the freakin star of the entire movie in terms of acting ability. The main character, who I guess is supposed to be the experienced actor is the worst I believe I've ever seen. I literally almost turned the movie off and I'll watch almost any martial arts movie to the end.

As for breaking down the areas of the movie. There was hardly any training sequences, mainly in between fights it was just a bunch of sex scenes (usually sex is historically a big no-no before fights). So I would give this a 0 in terms of training. I like my martial arts movies to show some training techniques and the more of them they are, the more aspects of training they show, and the realism of the training the better he movie. This one had none of that. As for the actual action, it was pretty terrible there as well. I will rate it a 4, simply because of my true life MMA guys. They didn't get to show off enough of their skill, nor where they even given some roles where they could maybe use some Hollywood effects to supe them up a little bit. But just being generous I'm giving it a 4 in terms of overall fight scenes and action, the fighting was fairly realistic.

The acting was truly the low point of a movie that I really can't find many high points. I don't usually, or ever worry about the acting in these type of movies as long as the action is kick a** and the fighting is either very realistic, or a good back and forth between the main hero and villain, or something innovative in terms of the fight choreography. This movie had none of that, as well as even worse acting than even the lowest of this genre. Since martial arts movies aren't known for Robert Deniro type performances and saying that this movie is the worst I've seen thus far that would put my acting rating in the negatives. The lead character is terrible, the lead villain is OK and I'm a fan of his and always have been. He far outshines anyone else in the movie and I was actually hoping he would beat the crap out of the main good guy (I hope he did accidentally belt him in a few of the takes). And the supporting acting of MMA fighter, Heath Herring was pretty decent too, especially considering as many hard tough fights that Heath has had in real life. He seems really sharp still, no signs of any damage from all his fights and he seems to have a natural talent for acting if he wanted to do that. Still, when your lead character is so bad the movie is gonna be bad. For it's genre I would rate the acting of this movie as a 3 (only because of Herring and lead villain Patrick Kilpatrick). I would rate it a 1 or a 0 if not for those 2 guys. In terms of overall genres of movies, this movie gets a 0.

Action 4

Acting in Martial Arts Genre 3

Acting Overall Genres 0

Story Martial Arts Genre 1

Story overall Genres 0 (I should give it negatives)

In closing, if you're a die-hard martial arts/kung fun movie fan, you may still regret watching this. If you are martial arts movie fan, plus huge MMA fan and really like George St Pierre, BJ Penn, Quinton Jackson, Heath Herring, or Anderson Silva then you might want to give this a watch just to see those guys. I would steer clear of this unless there is totally nothing else on. I also wouldn't buy this movie unless it is found at a yard sale or something for under a dollar. I don't really know if it's worth a rental, unless you are really curious and can find it at a Redbox.