The Quest (1996)

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Director:

Jean-Claude Van Damme

Writers (WGA):

Frank Dux (story) and
Jean-Claude Van Damme (story) ...

Release Date:

26 April 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

Tagline:

Go the distance

Plot:

Chris embarks on an odyssey of self-discovery that spans the globe. Kidnapped and enslaved by gun smugglers...

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts | Underground Fighting | Fight | Blimp Crash | Tournament

Awards:

1 nomination

US TV Schedule:

Tue. July 28

11:30 AM

MAX

Cast

Jean-Claude Van Damme	...	Christopher Dubois
Roger Moore	...	Lord Edgar Dobbs
James Remar	...	Maxie Devine
Janet Gunn	...	Carrie Newton
Jack McGee	...	Harry Smythe
Aki Aleong	...	Khao
Abdel Qissi	...	Khan (Mongolian Fighter)
Louis Mandylor	...	Riggi
Chang Ching Peng Chaplin	...	Master Tchi
Ryan Cutrona	...	Officer O'Keefe
Shane Meier	...	Red
Matt Lyon	...	Billy
Jen Sung Outerbridge	...	Phang (Siamese Fighter)
Peter Wong	...	Chinese Fighter
Kitao Koji	...	Sumo Wrestler

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for adventure violence and martial arts fights.

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby SR

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:K-18 (original rating) | Iceland:16 | South Korea:12 | Argentina:13 | Canada:14A | Finland:K-16 (video premiere) | France:U | Germany:16 | Norway:18 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:NC-16 | Spain:13 | UK:18 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Company:

MDP Worldwide

Trivia:

This is Roger Moore's least favourite of his own films.

Goofs:

Factual errors: One fight announced was "Siam vs. Africa", but Africa was and is a continent, not a country!

Passable martial arts flick

The Quest is an odd mix of martial arts and epic adventure. Its running time is too short for it to be deemed a true epic, but the panoramic worldwide locations hint that Van Damme was trying to give it the flavour of an epic.

It's a painfully simplistic story. Young American pickpocket Chris (Van Damme) has to flee from New York in the 1920s after a botched robbery. He ends up on a pirate ship headed for the Orient. Soon, he is rescued by another ship (another pirate vessel, this time captained by gentleman buccaneer Roger Moore). Moore drops him off on a Thai island where young men are trained as fighters, and before long young Chris is a very handy fighter indeed, with aspirations to win an ancient golden dragon in a fighting competition. The final third of the film is comprised entirely of fight sequences in which competitors from various nations combat each other in an effort to take the ultimate prize.

The film marked Van Damme's directorial debut, and he gives it a lovely sense of scale and period but can't wring much out of the thin and obvious story. The backdrops pictured in the film are beautiful. Some of the martial arts moments are well choreographed. Roger Moore gives a surprisingly thoughtful and moving performance. Beyond that, it's very childish and simple-minded and doesn't contain enough memorable moments to be anything other than a passable time filler.