The Ultimate Game

If you want to see fit, athletic young men and women in skimpy clothing doing martial arts poses and hand-to-hand combat for about an hour, "The Ultimate Game" is right up your alley. The first 30-40 minutes are slow and stilted, and the sound is sometimes out-of-synch, making the film look as if it had been dubbed. But when we get to the martial arts tournament, held in an exotic island somewhere off the coast of Japan (I think), the movie starts delivering the goods for genre fans. If you can say a negative thing about the fight scenes, it's that sometimes they seem a bit too "rehearsed"; on the other hand, there are LOTS of them, they are shot in broad daylight so you can clearly see them, and the hits look realistic. And it is an equal-opportunity film: women will go crazy over J.D.Rifkin's abs, while men will want to see more of that blonde fighter who, at one point, smiles wickedly and then drops her leg on her opponent's stomach with such force that the other woman probably had a belly ache for several hours afterwards. (**)

The Ultimate Game, while relatively unknown outside of the circles of true American heroes such as myself, is undoubtedly the greatest cinematic achievement of our time. It is as though all of film and movie history had been leading up to the release of this masterpiece. It is the culmination of all previous endeavors in the art form - the apogee, if you will. Everyone else might as well just give up making movies because they will never ever be as good as Kevin Derek and Jack Kaprielian. They are my heroes - true American heroes. I think every movie theater in the world should just play this movie nonstop. It speaks to my heart and brings tears to my soul.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm getting my life back.

First of all, I can't consider this movie a real "MOVIE". The storyline is very fragile (c'mon, a fighting contest on an island sure rings "Mortal Kombat" bell), the acting is horrible, the sounds are awkward and the fight scenes are actually FUNNY. I cannot believe someone said the scenes were good. I mean, the actors have well built bodies but my god the moves they do barely connect to their opponents. One can see very clearly that the fists and feet actually hit the air!!! What a lame performance to say the least. Also, what was the actual role of the chick in the team? I believe it was only to add some spice to the original recipe of low budget low quality action flicks. Avoid watching at any cost if you want to watch good real action movies, but you can watch it if you want to have fun with friends laughing at the terrible acting and fight scenes.

All right, let's just say it: this is not really a good film. The sound is mostly post-dubbed, the sound effects are amateurish. The plot is … well, almost nonexistent, something about a to-the-death contest for supremacy and personal salvation. However, if you are a fan of the genre, this is a back-to-basics martial arts classic. You won't find better-looking or fitter karate warriors, more exotic beach locales, or more genuine fighting. JD Rifkin is gorgeous, huge, and cut like a cover model for Men's Fitness. His pals and opponents are no less impressive. The fights are all well-lit and shot from a little distance back, so you can actually see what's going on. And unlike the current trend, neither computer graphics nor cables and fancy photography figure into this -- all the combat scenes are choreographed but completely genuine. In his other life, Rifkin is a martial arts instructor; everything you see these guys do, they can really do. I've seen them do it-- You'll just have to trust me on that. So if you're tired of the House of Flying Daggers and Kung Fu Hustle special effects and overproduced schlock in the theaters, kick back to the real thing.

While watching THE ULTIMATE GAME, I was thinking to myself that this movie was made too late. By 2001, bare bones martial arts tournament films were passé, and this was likely reflected in the movie's very low budget appearance. To my surprise, it was actually made in 1998, at the very end of the boom period of direct-to-video karate flicks. In other words, the film languished without a release for about three years, and after seeing it in its entirety, this isn't surprising. THE ULTIMATE GAME just barely manages a three-star rating, but I can see others easily rating it lower: this one's got a ton of fight scenes to its credit but very little else.

The story: Several teams of martial artists take part in a tournament to crown the best of the best, though fair play is hampered by the unscrupulous antics of an evil manager.

You can pretty much skip the first half of the movie. Not only is the indie budget visible via its video quality, boring direction, and almost nonexistent acting (I nominate Jennifer Doubleday for the "worst crying scene of the decade" award), but the characters are all largely faceless goofballs who you can't care a hoot about. There are some pretty silly scenes - Mark Griffin giving a drunk man the world's most halfhearted beating, T.J. Storm somehow being completely unharmed by a head-on car collision - but they're played too lackluster to be worth laughing at.

Most of the fighters here are pretty unknown in the film world - the most prolific is definitely the aforementioned T.J. Storm, followed by Paul Logan and Andre McCoy - but they're still a talented bunch and get plenty of opportunity to strut their stuff. Once the tournament begins, the film averages one fight every four minutes, and taken as a cumulative total, the collection isn't bad. At worst, the brawls move slowly enough that the strikes and blocks look predetermined, and virtually all of them have that vague amateur look to them of shots being held too long and some disharmony between connecting shots. However, there's no denying the fighters' athleticism, and the choreography has its moments. Stars J.D. Rifkin and Paul Logan are like nimbler versions of Dolph Lundgren, and T.J. Storm performs some impressive kung fu. My favorite fight is a kick-filled match between stunt warriors Stephanie Cheeva and Melissa Barker. This stuff could definitely be worse.

Recommending this movie is difficult. Casual action fans will be alienated by the low budget look of the film, and even seasoned DTV aficionados may not have much tolerance for the movie's low points when there's much better stuff on the market. In the end, I think I can only push this one towards that niche audience of karate cinema that particular enjoys movies with tournaments in them. In general, everyone should rent this one before considering a purchase.