User reviews

The Quest is a surprisingly decent Jean Claude Van-Damme movie.

Quest is a period piece, and a pretty well-done one at that. Taking place shortly after World War I, Van Damme plays Chris Dubois, a humble indentured servant figure with Rocky-like ambitions to become a big fighting champion. Dubois has set his sights on some very elite and secret tournament in some mystical forbidden city, to which only the best fighter in every country of the world gets an invitation.

To get into the tournament, Dubois enlists the help of a mischievous figure, Lord Dobbs. In one of the many parts of the plot I was unable to follow, Lord Dobbs owes him some unknown favor so he buys his freedom and makes arrangements to get the kid to Beijing, with the aide of an attractive blonde newspaper editor, Carrie Newton (Gunn).

Dobbs is played by seven-time James Bond alumni Roger Moore, who I'm so used to seeing as Bond that I half-expected him to, at a crucial point in the movie, bag the attractive news lady, beat someone up, or use some cool gadget. Sadly, Moore only accomplishes one of these three things (uses a cool gadget) and fails miserably at it. However, Moore does carry one James Bond-like trait to this part which is being a smooth talker which gets Dubois in trouble in the first place. Apparently, Dubois was never really entered into the tournament, so he must win over the guy who's slated to fight for the U.S. and get his invitation, which raises the question, isn't Dubois French?

Anyway, there's no reason to fret over little things like that, because considering the plot is secondary to the action, it's pretty well-thought out, and besides the action doesn't disappoint.

The tournament where most of the actions scenes come from is probably my favorite thing about the movie because the single elimination bracketed format has the same thrill as watching something like NCAA's March Madness. The only difference is that except for rooting for your favorite colleges, you root for Industrial Era superpowers. The other plus of this was that the clashing of such a diverse array of fighting styles (sumo wrestling, Scottish fist fighting, Brazillian street fighting, and the like) led to some great action scenes.

My main complaint about the action is that Van Damme's fight scenes attempt to create suspense by him being knocked down and then supposedly against our expectations, getting back up and winning. This just becomes predictable, and besides, because the Master of Ceremonies usually hits the gong after a guy gets knocked down, Dubois would have realistically been out in the second round after getting the crap beat out of him by the Spaniard. Even if he did get back up, he wouldn't have been able to overpower the other guy after having taken so many hits. If he is such a skillful fighter, why doesn't he just win the fight efficiently without all the drama? He reminds me of the present-day LA Lakers who slack off the entire regular season, knowing that they only really have to work during the playoffs.

This gag would have been an effective if it was restricted to only happening in the film's climatic finale. Instead, to top the earlier fights, the tournament's final match really got to be a disappointment. The master of ceremonies was incredibly generous with the gong, deciding to let the fight continue even after Dubois got knocked down twice and kicked out of the ring, where he is beaten up some more and magically throws in a couple kicks at the right moment and walks away with the medallion.

Anyway, the film is a decently played out story that has its moments.

For a Jean Claude Van Damme movie, then "The Quest" is a fairly standard one. And if you have seen the 1988 "Bloodsport" movie, then you have essentially also seen "The Quest". And I don't think that it is a mere coincidence, especially since the story was written by Frank Dux and Jean Claude Van Damme.

The story is about Christopher Dubois (played by Jean-Claude Van Damme) who is living on the streets, when he is forced to run for his life and ending up as a stowaway on a ship. When he comes to his senses, he is put into slavery, working on the ship. By sheer luck he is rescued by Lord Edgar Dobbs (played by Roger Moore) and Harry Smythe (played by Jack McGee), two thieves and con artists. Setting out to steal a massive golden dragon in a reclusive and secret fighting tournament, Christoper Dubois finds himself fighting on behalf of the boxer Maxie Devine (played by James Remar).

Storywise, then "The Quest" focused more on the fights and action. And as in "Bloodsport", then there is lots of it, and the fight sequences are nicely executed and brought to the screen. The movie itself is as predictable as they come - but then again, aren't most of Jean Claude Van Damme's movies?

There are so many similarities between "Bloodsport" and "The Quest", that you just sit there wondering why "The Quest" was actually ever put on film. Wasn't it enough with this story being told in 1988 back when "Bloodsport" came out? But as with virtually all of Jean Claude Van Damme's movies, the main focus is the action and fighting, and whatever story or resemblance of a story there is becomes secondary. Obviously you have the fighting tournament held in an exotic location, there was the bested friend of whom Van Damme takes a headband, there was a woman reporter, there was a massive and seemingly invincible opponent, and of course there is Jean Claude Van Damme as the underdog who swoops in and wins it all against all odds.

That being said, then "The Quest" is good entertainment where you don't have to use your brain at all. Funny, how I remembered this movie being much better back in the late 90's, when I remember my brother getting it on VHS. And after having obtained the DVD in 2013 and watched it again, it wasn't as cool as I remembered it to be. But still, fun and action-packed, a fairly standard Jean Claude Van Damme movie to be honest.

This film is Van Damme's first effort as director, and he is surprisingly good in his task!The Quest is, of course, a simple action film, but it has a lot of good intentions and the story, written by Van Damme, is good-hearted. The star plays Chris Dubois, a man who is saved by a group of mercenaries led by a smooth and charming thief (Roger Moore, who brings a little bit of comedy and softness to the story), and this guy takes Chris to the Lost City to fight in a highly dangerous tournament. The winner takes home a beautiful, enormous golden dragon. This isn't the best film of Van Damme's career, his best phase was with the Chinese directors (Hard Target, The Colony), but The Quest isn't a good film for those who want to see explosions, Van Damme blowing people's heads off and those kinds of thing. This is an adventure, the type of film that, if we were now ten years old, would love!you don't have violence, shootings and explosions, if you want to watch something like that rent Hellbound Hellraiser 2, this is a Raiders-of-the-Lost-Ark kind of film. If you want to give the movie a shot, try to forget your grown-up side and watch it as if you were ten years old again. Then you will love it!it's a simple, entertaining and very good movie!

In Van Damme's directorial debut, he stars as Chris Dubois, a New York City orphan who stows away aboard a ship on it's way to Asia to escape a life on the edge of society, only to be captured and sold quite literally into slavery. There's even a part where he is asking a shady character played by Roger Moore called Lord Edgar Dobbs ("Dobbs, Lord Dobbs…") to "buy him" so he can have a chance to go to a mysterious place called the Lost City to enter an ultra-secret fighting championship and win his freedom and maybe a little glory along the way.

Sadly, the plot is one of the weakest I've seen in a Van Damme movie, which is not a good thing. The first hour comes across as almost an excuse just to get to the fight scenes at the end, which resemble some of his earliest fighting movie like Bloodsport and Kickboxer, but here are so brief and watered down that they are meaningless. It would be better if they just described them. But I'll get to that later.

Clearly, Chris' motivation is to get his freedom, but there is also the matter of this fighting tournament, which is a little difficult to understand. The best fighters from all of a dozen or more different countries are there to find out who is the best in the world. It's sort of like the Olympics for fighting with all those nations represented, except it's super-secret so there is no publicity and no recognition for their achievements. One journalist is there, but she had to pull a serious amount of strings in order to get there. These must be fighting purists, the guys that do it for the spiritual reasons and not the money or fame.

Anyway, this Lord Dobbs becomes interested when Chris explains to him that the prize for winning the tournament is "a big dragon made of solid gold," so Chris is able to enlist his help in getting to the tournament, provided he can win his freedom if he shares the prize with him. All of this is generally irrelevant, of course. The movie exists just for the fight scenes, but sadly, once they finally get started it quickly becomes one of the most disappointing parts of the whole movie.

The tournament takes place somewhere called the "Lost City," which is described as "the top of the world." Maybe this is meant to evoke something like Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet, which calls itself "the roof of the world." There's no resemblance, but it's an interesting coincidence. Anyway, soon we learn that there is more to risk than getting the tar beaten out of you. One of the fight officials ominously warns Chris that, if he loses, he can never leave the Lost City.

How's that again? Such stipulations are always a complete mystery to me. When I was in Tibet last summer, we took a trip to Namtso Lake a couple hours north of Lhasa, which claims to be the "highest lake in the world" at about 5200 meters (I'm pretty sure that there are dozens that are much, much higher, but no matter), the locals at the lake told us that the lake was sacred to them, so if you bathe in it, or even just wash your face or hands or feet, your punishment will be that they'll never let you leave. Uh-huh. Who would they really be punishing?

Anyway, the actual tournament looks like a video game, a cartoonishly overblown ceremonial setup that reminds me of Mortal Kombat, which I understand is one of Van Damme's worst movies ever. I haven't seen it, but I can certainly imagine! Each country is represented by a goofy stereotype, often in wildly inappropriate attire. There is the German fighter who looks exactly like a Nazi, complete with calf-high standard issue military work boots, the Japanese sumo-wrestler, the squirrelly Chinese guy, the mountainous, frightening Mongolian (who doesn't look remotely Mongolian, but no matter), etc.

What I especially love is that every fighter comes out, does some bizarre dance, and then the fight begins and ends within 10-15 seconds without fail. The Turkish fighter, who looks like one of the toughest fighters of all of them, gets shoved backwards by the sumo-wrestler and then I guess he just passes out. I've never seen anyone get knocked out from being pushed, but it happens in this movie. Anyway, things get strangely familiar again when Chris takes off the headband of a fallen friend, swearing revenge with an evil stare at the scary Mongolian. This is as goofy as it gets, but for some reason it's still fun to watch Van Damme in this kind of situation. Too bad the rest of the movie is so bad.

What I mean by that, of course, is things like the conclusion of the movie, where Lord Dobbs and his hapless sidekick attempt to steal the golden horse, which has cleverly been left out in the middle of an open courtyard during the tournament, with so little security that no one notices when they try to steal it using a BLIMP. You see, they figure it's too heavy for anyone to carry off, which renders even the most conspicuous and noticeable vehicle perfectly acceptable. NICE.

The end of the movie is abrupt and cheesy, complete with a ham-handed moral and a totally uncreative mention of the future of the cast. At least Lord Dobbs mentions that he's a pirate, but used to be a captain in the Royal Navy. Interesting because that's what most pirates were in real life before they turned to a life of crime. Sadly, there's not much else here. For some good Van Damage you're better off with the earlier kickboxing films

There were VHS-s at home when I was a kid. My grandfather was watching this movie. I had watched it many times. It was very interesting for me. I was very interesting for the countries to fight for a golden dragon statue. Even though the movie is average, i always feel nostalgic.

A thief is kidnapped by smugglers and then forced to fight in a competition, in which the winner takes home the golden dragon(Which is apparently worth millions, but looks like it was made out of brass) lots of fight sequences ensue. The Quest is proof that action stars need not direct. Jean-Claude Van Damme directs each actor in such a lackluster fashion that they manage to almost become invisible. Roger Moore and James Remar are truly wasted and even the fight sequences are poorly staged. If you really want to see something like this done well, check out Bloodsport and Kickboxer.

* out of 4 (Bad)

This is easily one of my favorite Van Damme films, and I really struggle to figure out why it receives little attention compared to his other work. I am choosing to ignore the infamy surrounding Frank Dux (co-writer) for the time being and instead focus on basically anything but him in this review. Action fans of all backgrounds can appreciate the elements at play here.

Van Damme himself is in fine form, performing the stunts and impressive martial arts movements on display in earnest since Bloodsport. The occasional ambiguity about his character's purpose is refreshing in this film. Typically there is very little detracting from the purity or innocence of any protagonist in movies like this, but some of the references to the reputation of thieves in society really make the viewer think twice about the moral character of Van Damme's Dubois. Sure, he is trying to make a better life for himself and the other misfits in the streets he left behind, but at the end of the day he is involved in some seedy activities.

Roger Moore does a fine job as, well, Roger Moore (and this is just fine with me). James Remar plays a loudmouth who eventually changes his ways, like he often does, but this time around his motivations are a bit more tempered. This is by far one of my favorite Remar performances. I feel as though an entire movie could be made around his Maxie Devine and it would be endlessly entertaining.

Overall, the performances are solid throughout. The locations are eye-catching, and some sea-faring and swashbuckling is thrown in to contrast the gritty streets of the US and the foreboding mystery of the tournament locale. I would not hesitate to recommend this flick to anyone who appreciates some unintentional humor and eye-rolling dialogue in their action gumbo. Most Van Damme fans have likely seen this and should check it out if not.

The plot: empty, if not silly. The arch of the story was really not going anywhere.

Character depth: nonexistent.

The fight scenes: The one - and only - thing I really liked was the Chinese fighter. Wonderful movements. Made all the others look really cumbersome. Without the camera work, all of it, except mentioned Chinese fighter, would have been just embarrassing. But there is worse, I guess.

There was some effort put into the costumes and the attempt to keep up the semblance of a story. But it was just too shallow and empty beneath to redeem this movie.

Good, though, if you have other things to do and just want something to run in the background. You can just look at the movie from time to time and are certain not to miss anything of importance.

Although it took four viewings before I finally lowered my rating of this from "9" to "8,", I suspect I will still watch this lame-brain action flick a few more times and enjoy it. That's because it offers a great mixture of fascinating fighters in the tournament that covers most of the final 40 minutes of the movie; is a modern-day martial-arts action film with almost no swearing and no sex; and offer 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.

That tourney is a lot of fun to watch except that it got carried away in the final bout, of course, that went on almost as long as all the preliminary bouts! However, the filmmakers were smart to make all the contestants totally different with different styles, making each one fun to watch. You didn't see the same thing each fight. There was everything from a huge Sumo-type wrestler to a little guy who imitated a monkey and a snake jumping and slithering around the ring. By the way, these were real guys, not actors imitating fighters.

The photography is magnificent, far better than you would except. The colors are beautiful and the Thailand scenery spectacular. 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.

My main issue with the film is the plot. We have seen this many many times with his films. No name guy goes to fighting tournament as an underdog and surprises everyone and wins it. Very common with his film from the late 80's to early 90's.

I loved roger moores character. He has a funny sense of humor that we also get to see in most of his James Bond films.

The scenery was beautiful. Thailand is a gorgeous country.

A lot of stereotypes with the fighters. Every time they announced a country to fight, you could tell what the fighter would look like, Japan sumo, Scotland kilt, etc.

A truly underrated gem in the JCVD catalog.

It really get son my nerves when people criticize some films that are actually good. This film was great. It is in my opinion the best Vand Damme film ever. It has story/action/heart and mystery and the highlight of the film were the last battles which showed different fighters from the whole world (ala streetfighter 2) all showing off their capabilities. this movie also has an EPIC feel to it and I don't know what people mean by 'poor' movie cause this looked pretty expensive to me. Roger Moore was cool here too. SO was the babe. Give this a chance people.

A contrived, disappointing movie, even for Van Damme. His attempt to direct and star in this film proves a failure. The addition of his law suit over the stealing of the story from Frank Dux (Bloodsport) makes it all the more pathetic. I could have written this story in an afternoon or just renamed his earlier work, Bloodsport, and called it The Quest. This film is a bad version of Van Damme's finest work, Bloodsport (made years earlier). The beginning looks promising but after the "look at how tough and scary Van Damme looks" scene it goes downhill. Roger Moore is a needless character (and might I add, 'actor'). The PG-13 rating does not help, since superb violence is most of what one goes to see in a Van Damme movie. The plot is see-through, even more so than most his films. Do not bother watching this film, go rent Bloodsport instead.

I rate "The Quest" as one of the greatest films in the career of Jean-Claude Van Damme as the movie has a more engaging story than others and there is a more traditional approach to martial arts in general. From the opening scene, it becomes clear that this wasn't going to be just another standard action movie. The inclusion of Roger Moore is a bonus as the dishonest but affable con artist (R.I.P to a television legend) and James Remar makes for a tough but honourable prize fighter. The whole film unfolds in flashback as Van Damme relates to a barkeeper a few things about his life on the New York streets and how he becomes involved with Roger Moore and entering a secretly held martial arts tournament on an island somewhere in Asia. The tournament in question is the main attraction and it's great to see all those fighting styles on display. The contests don't last very long apart from the final one (naturally). Physically speaking, JCVD was just about at his biggest. His arms truly bulge when he tenses them up! The setting being in the Far East is only right as it helps to maintain tradition and also different cultures in the martial arts. The direction by Van Damme is pretty good and he manages to keep the whole film under control. One of his most memorable.

Some of the aspects of this sorry film are unbelievably cheesy. If you can watch it without smiling, you're probably a teenager. "Thailand vs Africa", "Mongolia vs Scotland", all fighters representing their national garments - oh come on... The Spanish guy with black trousers, white shirt and flamenco gestures was so comical that I started suspecting that this film was a parody. The Scottish guy with a kilt getting kicked into his unprotected balls was also *very* creative, wasn't it? I wouldn't be surprised to see a Russian soldier with a military coat, a pointed cap with a red star and a bottle of vodka in his hands, or a Norwegian with a red beard and skis in this film. I'll refrain from commenting on the non-existent acting in this movie. It is possible to direct a good film with martial arts in it, but this is clearly not the case...

Jean Claude van Damme both stars in and directs this movie. And the result is pretty good. The movie starts out rather bad, but it becomes better as the story proceeds. I'm a big lover of movies with fighting tournaments, and this one is no exception from that. One especially interesting feature with this movie is that the fighters represent their countries. The different nationalities are a bit overdone, but that's not a major setback for the movie. It was indeed surprising to see Roger Moore in a van Damme-movie. I'm a big fan of him because of his Bond movies and because he doesn't take himself or his roles that seriously. Therefore, he fits perfect in this well made action-flick.

The Quest is Van Damme's atempt at a comenack 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.

I am a Jean-Claude Van Damme Fan and have to say this is a 'Damme' good film. Doesn't the film remind you of 'Bloodsport'? Well this has a good story about Chris who wants to get the golden dragon and ends up in a tournament for the dragon. The fight scenes aren't that violent as most people would want to see. But it is an Epic, with a dramatic story. Roger Moore even acts in it gives a 'Bond' type entrance to his name. Overall this is a great film which shall not be missed by all fans. Van Damme is the man!

He literally directed this movie, Mr. Bloodsport himself! And sadly, it shows. Oh my how it shows.. So yeah, this is the kind of film you are going to watch just for the fights, which are so freaking good! Only if a real script writer and a real director did everything else!

I am not a fan of Van Damme but I bought this DVD because I thought Louis Mandylor would somehow be showcased more prominently being that he, too is an expert at kickboxing. But he was only in the beginning of the film (as a smartly dressed gangster) & that was it. Since Van Damme said he'd be back to that city, I thought Mandylor would get back at him, too for stealing his money. But he didn't.

The start of the film was exciting but after Van Damme gets to that island & is sold into servitude by Roger Moore's character, I lost interest. The film seemed to have too many loose ends, as many of you mentioned here on this board of reviews.