The fourth film in the series Never Back Down: Revolt, in particular , takes the series in a sharp new direction with filmmaker Kellie Madison directing as the series transitions to new territory. Though Chris Hauty has returned as screenwriter for each installment of the series, the Never Back Down movies have been something of a loosely tied-together martial arts anthology, with a handful of elements and characters continuing from one movie to the next as each tells its own story. Since then, the Never Back Down series has followed a similar path as the Undisputed franchise in really breaking out with its straight-to-video sequel Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown under the direction of Michael Jai White.

The Never Back Down franchise has grown into a beloved martial arts movie series, but how do the movies rank? With the popularity of MMA, the Never Back Down franchise first kicked off in 2008, but while the original has its virtues, particularly in Djimon Hounsou's MMA mentor performance, it didn't really set the cinema screens on fire at the time.

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