CompleteMartialArts.com - The Quest
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List Price: $9.99
Our Price: $6.49
Your Save: $ 3.50 ( 35% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Starring: Aki Aleong, CĂ©sar Carneiro, Chang Ching Peng Chaplin, Ryan Cutrona, Janet Gunn
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Universal
EAN: 9780783226743
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 0783226748
Label: Universal Studios
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Letterbox
Publisher: Universal Studios
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 1998-04-29
Running Time: 94
Studio: Universal Studios
Theatrical Release Date: 1996-04-26
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Editorial Reviews:
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One mans search for his soul leads him on the ultimate journey. An exotic odyssey that takes him from the slums of new york to the mysterious lost city of tibet. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 06/01/2004 Starring: Jean-claude Van Damme Roger Moore Run time: 94 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Jean-claude Van Damme
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Fighters Make This Just Plain Fun
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great movie.
Comment: 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!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Van Damme & Moore: Quest Without A Compass
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Close but no cigar Van Damme
Comment: The Quest is Van Damme's atempt at a comeback going back to the films where he was staright into fighting and not playing a cop or any like that. The film has okay fight sequnces but the storyline is a little murky and the fianl does drag a little. But still better than the two previous Van Damme films which were Sudden Death and Maximum Risk.
Customer Rating:
Summary: a damme cool movie
Comment: I have seen this film so many times, and every time I think I love it more and more. Sure its a Van Damme movie which means its not up to par with most of Hollywood and it may be cheesy with its title and story, but I find it to be an original Van Damme story, with a very involved and entertaining martial arts tournament, even more enjoyable than that in Bloodsport.
The Quest is about a young man named Christopher Devoir (Van Damme), living homeless in NYC with a group of homeless kids. He gets caught stealing, and leaves the country sneaking onto a ship, promising the kids he will return. He then escapes the ship onto another, a last ship of the Buccaneers led by Lord Edgar Dobbs (Roger Moore, from the James Bond films). Immediately, he is sold secretly to the Thai on an island to be trained as a Muy Thai fighter. Months later, he runs into Dobbs again, and requires Dobbs to repay him for his dishonesty towards him. The Quest therefore begins, to find the golden dragon, awarded to the greatest fighter in a martial arts tournament held at the Lost City. The plot still unfolds with some more twists, right until the very end.
The best part of this movie is the tournament, which takes up about the last half of the film. It consists of the greatest fighters from around the world (oddly enough, quite similar to that of Bloodsport). I actually found this tournament to be more enjoyable than Bloodsport, with a lot more unique fighting styles. The arena is also much larger than the Kumite arena in Bloodsport, and sets the tone well for the fights. The camera work and sound effects make the punches and kicks seem quite hard. There are many fighters in the tournament that are from many other martial arts movies including Bloodsport 2, Bloodmoon, Shootfighter 2, and Lionheart.
As with most tournaments, there is always a big, bad villainous fighter. Chong Li was the charcater in Bloodsport. In the Quest, it is an unnamed Mongolian fighter, who is the same guy Van Damme fought at the end of Lionheart. They fight a huge 8 minute final fight, that is kinda like a no holds barred fight. It begins on the arena platform, but eventually extends beyond the gates and outside at night time.
Made in 1996, this is probably one of the last of the great Van Damme films, and one of the last times he performs his famous high split kicks, also seen much of in Bloodsport. A different but original storyline for Van Damme. Its quite interesting, but can be slow at times. The tournament is the real fun and excitement, and keeps the last half of the movie moving along nicely. Any fan of great martial arts tournament style movies should definetly check this out.
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