Slovakia Gets Its Own Dope To Rope In The New Shortfilm, NEVER SURRENDER!
You may recall last year that independent filmmaker and stunt impressario Eric Jacobus made serious headway in the film festival circuit with his 2013 shortfilm, Rope-A-Dope, a groundhog-style martial arts comedy that saw a dope take on the challenge of changing what he needed to derail the events that led to him getting knocked unconcious. The shortfilm left such an impression among fans that even action star Scott Adkins retweeted it on Twitter, among other important folks in the world of action.
That said, as Jacobus marks fifteen years as founding member of The Stunt People, his work continues to sustain its place as a blueprint for other aspiring action actors and stunt team founders alike, including actor Julius Kmak in the good company of his people representing Slovakian indie film group 3 Media Production with their new shortfilm, Never Surrender. And while it won’t be hard to notice some of the obvious similarities in story and action choreography between this and Rope-A-Dope, it hasn’t been the first time the work of The Stunt People have been copied. However in large part, Jacobus himself is taking it all in stride. “I pride myself on coming up with new ideas,” he tells Film Combat Syndicate. “…so it’s great to see people taking those ideas and using them as vehicles for making their fight scenes come to life.”.
Never Surrender is just a small handful of videos 3 Media has up on its YouTube channel as they have just newly formed as of late last year. Sure, it may be a Rope-A-Dope imitation, but it does pack a punch or two, and even a few laughs to boot, in which case, do watch this little jewel through to the end. And by all means, subscribe to their channel!