The Tournament (2009)

Every seven years in an unsuspecting town, The Tournament takes place. A battle royale between 30 of the world's deadliest assassins. The last man standing receiving the $10,000,000 cash ... See full summary »

Director:

Scott Mann

Writers:

Gary Young, Jonathan Frank,

Stars:

Robert Carlyle, Kelly Hu, Ian Somerhalder

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Carlyle	...	Father MacAvoy
Kelly Hu	...	Lai Lai Zhen
Ian Somerhalder	...	Miles Slade
Liam Cunningham	...	Powers
Ving Rhames	...	Joshua Harlow
Sebastien Foucan	...	Anton Bogart
Craig Conway	...	Steve Tomko
John Lynch	...	Gene Walker
Nick Rowntree	...	Eddy Cusack
Rachel Grant	...	Lina Sofia
Bashar Rahal	...	Asa Sadi
Andy Nyman	...	Tech Eddie
Iddo Goldberg	...	Tech Rob
Scott Adkins	...	Yuri Petrov
Camilla Power	...	Powers Assistant

Storyline

Every seven years in an unsuspecting town, The Tournament takes place. A battle royale between 30 of the world's deadliest assassins. The last man standing receiving the $10,000,000 cash prize and the title of Worlds No 1, which itself carries the legendary million dollar a bullet price tag.

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Plot Keywords:

tournament | assassin | last man standing | prize | priest | 

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Taglines:

Coming soon to a town near you!

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Genres:

Action | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [jp]

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 July 2010 (UK)

Also Known As:

Bérgyilkosok viadala

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$8,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mann Made Films, Sherazade Film Development, Storitel

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Nick Rowntree, one of the 3 writers of this film, has a cameo as 'Eddy Cusak,' the assassin in the Parking Garage.

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Goofs

When Lai Lai opens the suitcase and holds up the 9PM there is a close up of her hand. Then the next shot is of her turning off the shower, with a noticeably very different hand.

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Quotes

Miss Hunter: [incredulous] What did you say?
Tech Eddie: There are no cameras in there.
Miss Hunter: What about satellite?
Tech Rob: They're indoors.
Miss Hunter: Did I speak to you?
[Miss Hunter turns back to Eddie]
Miss Hunter: There are 30 people in there who paid ten million dollars. We're in the final few minutes. I want everything and anything pointed at that fucking church!

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Connections

References Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

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Soundtracks

"Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye"
Performed by Ruth Jacott

User Reviews

Excellent actioner

When I decided to check out "The Tournament" the expectations were moderate. Actually I expected it to be a pleasant DTV title with a couple of cool actors.

What I got instead was a thrilling actioner that surpasses most of the theatrical releases of the same genre. The action is hyperkinetic and violent, and Scott Mann has undisputed Hollywood potential.

The plot about the assassin tournament is clean and simple, a lot like "Taken" and when it comes to comparison between these two films, only advantage for "Taken" is Liam Neeson. "The Tournament" provides solid acting but it doen't have such a potent star. Actually, if we consider its budget, "The Tournament" is really outstanding in terms of casting because it combines available theatrical-feature actors like Kelly Hu, Liam Cunningham,, Robert Carlyle and Ving Rhames with top DTV names like Scott Adkins. Scott Adkins' potential was obvious ever since he first appeared in Isaac Florentine films and in "the Tournament" he is accompanied by Sebastien Foucan, the parkourist we remember from "Casino Royale".

Fight scenes are marvelously staged, with great fight choreography, but also outstanding gunplay and vehicle stunts. When it comes to the sheer amount of action "The Tournament" gives you the most for bang for the buck. It is very hard to invent some new kinds of action set-pieces and choreographies but in a couple of scenes "Rhe Tournament" does that.

Also, you must bear in mind that action is very violent and gory. The sheer amount of gore is comparable to Neill Blomkamp's "District 9". Bloodletting is stylish and lavish and Scott Mann really has the guts (quite literally) to pull it off.

I am surprised that this film failed to get theatrical release. I mean, it's quite obvious that American distributors wouldn't release because none of the stars are a draw in the US but I guess it should've worked quite well internationally.

Writer Gary Young was lucky to move on into theatrical business with Matthew Vaughn production "Harry Brown". I hope Scott Mann will accomplish the same.