MovieChat Forums > Never Back Down (2008) Discussion > This film and TFatF: Tokyo Drift

This film and TFatF: Tokyo Drift


Does anybody see similarities between the two? Here's how it goes:

Tokyo Drift: Main character likes to race. At the beginning, he gets into a street race which gets him into trouble and forces him to move.

Never Back Down: Main character has anger problems and fights a lot. At the beginning, at a football game, some player on the rival team makes him mad and they get into a fight on the field. Him and his family move, yes, though the difference is because his brother is a tennis prodigy.

TD: In Tokyo, he makes friends with a guy who introduces him into the world of streetracing. He has eyes for a girl who happens to be dating the villain, who is the best racer in Tokyo. After messing up in a race, some guy takes him under his wing to learn to drift.

NBD: In Orlando, he makes friends with a guy who happens to be into MMA. He has eyes for a girl who is dating the villain, who is a really good martial artist and a major bully. After losing to him in a fight, he decides to go learn MMA through a Brazilian fighter.

Both movies have a major climactic point. TD has a race down a mountain. NBD has an illegal fighting tournament, though the final fight between the protagonist and antagonist takes place in a parking lot of the club that hosted the tournament.

Did anybody ever notice this?

All I need is one mic...

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I'm pretty sure that this is a common plot formula:


-Kid goes to new place, starts a rivalry with the local popular guy, and has a love interest with the guy's girl.
-At first, the kid, when challenging the popular guy, gets humiliated.
-Kid undergoes training, and eventually rises to the top.
-Kid challenges the guy again, and comes out on top.
-Kid gets the girl in the end.

Only in Never Back Down, they fight MMA, and in Tokyo Drift, they street race. I'm pretty sure there are a lot of other movies like this.

The Karate Kid was like this as well.

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