Quest | Aki Aleong, César Carneiro | Loved it then, love it now.

Quest | Aki Aleong, César Carneiro | Great movie.

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Quest

	Quest Aki Aleong, César Carneiro Universal Studios, 1997 average customer review:based on 47 reviews view larger image
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Loved it then, love it now.

The plot may have been iffy to some, but I never really cared. I enjoy it most for it's fight choreography. Bloodsport was a little better, but for the price this can't be beat.

Great movie.

Van Damme is on a quest to find the meaning of right and wrong in this movie. He battles in a tournament of martial arts to win the prize of a golden statue, which funds he can use to feed the street kids that he cares for. Formidable opponents square off in this movie from every country and Van Damme learns from the famous boxer, who teaches him how to stand up for what he believes is right and encourages him to win. The movie does have good scenes of martial arts, but they are usually short and the real appeal of this movie is watching Van Damme's character being transformed as he battles within himself to steal a statue or to win it, to fight in a tournament or to give up, to betray his friends or to do what seems right. Good movie and with even better fights could've made 5 stars.
Although short fights and not such a great cinematography are what drags this movie down, some of the fights are great - wish they were longer though! My favourite one is when Chinese guy fights with a Brazilian martial artist. They are well matched and overall are excellent fighters. Great movie!

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Fascinating Fighters Make This Just Plain Fun

Although it took four viewings before I finally lowered my rating of this from "5" to "4 stars,"I suspect I will still watch this lame-brain action flick a few more times and enjoy it.

Why? Because it offers a great mixture of fascinating fighters, is a modern-day martial-arts action film with almost no swearing and no sex; and offers some tremendous scenery in the first half of the film as Jean Claude Van Damme and company travel to the Far East for this "World's Greatest Fighter" tourney.

Yes, the tourney gets carried away in the final bout but you can't have everything just right. The photography is magnificent, far better than you would expect. The movie benefits from a classy actor like Roger Moore joining the cast, too. Yeah, it's stupid in parts, but it's fun and highly recommended for first-time viewers who don't know the outcome of the bouts.

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Van Damme & Moore: Quest Without A Compass

When watching "The Quest", you can tell that Jean-Claude Van Damme's career was on a descent: directed by himself, it's basically a retelling of "Bloodsport" lacking any and all cult intrigue, and co-stars a way-past-his-prime Roger Moore.
Though I've never been a fan of Van Damme, I'm always ready for a good action film: "Quest", disappointingly, is merely a bad film with good action scenes, and therefore remains miles behind the likes of "Universal Soldier", "Hard Target", or "Timecop".

Van Damme is Christopher Dubois - a 1920s pickpocket whose frequent run-ins with the law see him shanghaied on a smuggling ship, from which he is "rescued" by a mercenary Englishman (Moore) who sells him into a Thai fighting circuit. The two inexplicably reunite and agree to aid eachother as they enter a Tibetan tournament pitting fighters from all over the world for the prize of a valuable golden statue.

Let's get right to the good stuff, the fighting. In short, it's good. The choreography of the encounters in the tournament regularly surpasses that of "Bloodsport": the action is faster but just as hard-edged, and just about all of the diverse fighting styles - from Muay Thai to Capoeira - are represented faithfully. Very good stuff.
Slightly disappointing is the length of most of the fights: with the exception of Van Damme's, each encounter is lucky to last more than 20 seconds, even when the complete fight is filmed (in contrast to opening halfway into the fight).

Sadly, the tournament only begins about halfway into the movie, and just about everything leading up to it is a lacklustre storytelling-attempt that most action films are known for, with minimal fights to be seen. To his credit, Van Damme is a step ahead of most other action heroes when it comes acting, and Roger Moore is known for his work...but neither they nor the rest of the cast (including James Remar of "48 Hours") are anything out of the ordinary in this movie; and the fact that nothing out of the ordinary dominates this film is what makes it an eventual disappointment.

The repetitive use of slow motion might irk some others than me, but that's not going to bring down the film. While I enjoy the film more than some of Van Damme's more universally-acclaimed features, "Quest" will give viewers plenty of time to use the bathroom or make popcorn. Though fans will surely scoop this one right up, newcomers to Van Damme should save this film for later in their experience.

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