Van Damme's 'The Quest' - DVD Review

THE QUEST (1996)

*This review does contain a few plot spoilers, but I don't believe they will strongly detract from your enjoyment of the film (and let's face it, if you are willing to read this epic review you are probably a Van Damme fan already and have seen The Quest five times by now!)

PLOT SYNOPSIS (from Amazon.com):

"Christopher Dubois (Jean-Claude Van Damme) embarks on an odyssey of self-discovery that spans the globe. Kidnapped and enslaved by gun smugglers, sold by pirates and thrust into the murky underworld of gambling and kickboxing, Chris' journey takes him to forbidding Muay Thai Island where deadly martial arts are taught, the colonial splendor of British East Asia, the dank back alleys of Bangkok, desolate deserts once trod by the warriors of Genghis Khan and finally, the ancient Lost City. There he must face the ultimate test of his manhood in the fabled Ghang-gheng, the ancient winner-take-all competition in which the deadliest fighters from around the world employ the most spectacular feats of martial arts skills ever displayed in order to win the prized Golden Dragon. But fighting prowess alone will not be enough for Chris to triumph over such daunting foes. He must reach deep inside and access all of the determination, strength of character and sense of selfless honor within in order to triumph over this final obstacle on his long trek home."

Or a more succinct way to put it would be: Through a bizarre series of events Van Damme ends up at a fighting Tournament and beats up a bunch of people.

MY OPINION:

Van Damme returns to what made him a star: the classic "tournament" style action film and - as the fans out there already know - he takes on the duties of co-writer, star and director! This is the genre that we all know and love him for, and it makes total sense that this was his directing debut... unfortunately the result is decidedly mixed.

The first thing that's apparent is the amount of trouble Van Damme and his production design team have gone to to make 'The Quest' look unique. This isn't the usual gritty visual approach to the genre, it's far more majestic, however, this thin viel of classy looks can't hide what lies beneath - Bloodsport with a big budget. You could argue that it's unfair to criticise this, as all "tournament" style action films basically boil down to finding a reason for the hero to fight in a ring (the usual being "you killed my brother/sister/family/mentor" etc...), but seeing as they are clearly attempting to stretch beyond these conventions I can't help but point out where they failed - but I still respect Van Damme for attempting to take the genre in a new direction and turn it into more of an action-adventure-globetrotting, martial-arts-extravaganza!

Things start out pretty differently than you'd expect: After a short (and frankly amusing) introduction sequence, Van Damme (made up to look old) beats up some punks in a bar and says "It was long ago...", fade to the past and he is quite literally a clown! What follows is a series of painful scenes where they try to establish that Christopher Dubois (Van Damme) is just a gosh-darn-it-splendid-individual who wants to "help the kids" by -ironically- stealing money from a local gangster. Of-course things don't turn out too well for our thief (because stealing is bad) and after a short chase Van Damme ends up stowed away on a boat heading for who knows where.

What follows is a little more conventional. Van Damme is discovered on the boat and forced to work by the unpleasant looking sweaty pirates, and they don't make things any easier for him when they put him in hand-cuffs -which raises the question: where would he escape to exactly, the ocean? Thankfully for Van Damme, a bearded James Bond (Roger Moore) turns up and witnesses him kicking some butt and is duly impressed, so he shoots some pirates, saves Van Damme's life and then blasts off those pesky hand-cuffs and brings him aboard his own boat.

Van Damme of course owes Roger Moore, but then here's the strange part: Roger Moore just leaves Van Damme on some Island occupied by natives training in Muay-Thai Kick-Boxing and what follows isn't quite what you expect. I assumed I was about to witness a cool Van Damme training sequence (like in Kickboxer) but instead he merely scrubs floors and watches the locals train (I guess he only needs to watch a fighting style to learn it, or perhaps the training sequence is sitting on the cutting room floor somewhere?). Ultimately we cut back to civilisation and we are meant to assume that he did get some training in (after impressing the Muay-Thai folk with back-flip kicks or something) and now he is a popular fighter, worth your money in the ring.

Anyway... this is getting a bit plot heavy! What basically follows is Van Damme teams up with Roger Moore and his chubby friend (who are also thieves) and some reporter chick who adds absolutely nothing to the plot, and they concoct a plan to tag along with the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion so they can steal the famed Golden Dragon which is the prize for winning the Ghang-gheng (the worlds greatest tournament), held at the Lost City. Along the way they discover that the Boxer is really a big sissy and so Van Damme takes his place and FINALLY gets around to kicking lots of arse! As you can see it takes a while to get to the fighting, and the bummer is once you are there, things are a bit disappointing.

The fighting just doesn't manage to elicit much of an emotional response. It is somehow strangely unsatisfying and lacking in impact. While it is cool to place bets and shout "I bet the Soviet Union guy will kicks that Spanish guys' arse!", the actual fights lack the precision and style that made them so cool in Van Damme's previous tournament films. Though that's not to say that there aren't some cool action moments.

Things aren't helped by the dull sub-plot that we continue to cut back to during the climax (where Roger Moore and his chum are attempting to steal the Golden Dragon), it's meant to add dimension to the story, but all you really want to see is the fighting or at the very least have the sub-plot focus on Van Damme's character rather than the supporting characters. And herein lies one of The Quest's biggest problems, after the initial -and admittedly thin- character scenes for Van Damme, he is then relegated to either sitting around waiting to fight, or actually fighting. There isn't a palpable sense of tension as we draw closer to the final fight with the large, mute Mongolian (who likes to break tables). Once the fight begins I found myself not particularly caring for Van Damme's welfare and wasn't really rooting for him like I usually would in the final fight scenes. It simply doesn't compare to previous final fights in Bloodsport, Kickboxer and Wrong Bet.

CLOSING THOUGHTS:

On the one hand I think the Quest has an old-fashioned charm and I like its straight forward approach. I admire Van Damme's attempt to merge action-adventure with Martial-Arts (even if it's not entirely successful) and a few of the fights are pretty cool. On the downside, the fighting is predominantly a letdown (particularly the climax), the supporting characters are fairly pointless and Van Damme's character doesn't get enough of the focus, rendering him dull and difficult to empathise with. Still, The Quest does provide Van Damme with some really cool moments (if only they had added up to something) and ultimately it entertained me.

The Quest 6/10

Picture:
The anamorhpic widescreen image was fairly vivid, with no major compression issues, though considering it's not that old, I'm sure a nicer image could be sourced for a new Special Edition.

Sound:
I was disappointed to find that my version only sported Dolby Stereo and not the 5.1 surround mix that some other DVD versions apparently have. However dialogue was clear and every hit was accordingly bone-crunching.

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Van Damme is rumoured to be returning to this genre with the long in development Bloodsport sequel, so here's hoping it turns out good because it would be awesome to see him in one last, big, kick-arse martial-arts extravaganza!

Read my review of Van Damme's most recent DVD - Second in Command