The Quest (1996)

By Greg
Score 5/10

A pleasant surprise after the disaster of a film "Street Fighter" was. This is the film that SF should have been, and even Mortal Kombat could have been. Truly nothing special but it did have humor and fun than the typical kickboxing/martial arts film where winner takes all. At times its almost mocking the genre, which was why it rated higher for me.

Jean-Claude Van Damme play Chris Dubois, a pick-pocket in NYC during the roaring 20's. He is kidnapped by gun smugglers, sold by pirates to the kickboxing underworld. The prates are led by Lord Dobbs (Roger Moore, yes, James Bond himself, a pirate) and his sidekick Harry(Jack McGee) who sell Chris to Khao(Aki Aleong) a master kick boxer who has dealings within the underworld of kickboxing. Now JCVD/Chris must fight for his freedom, the prized "Golden Dragon" and his life. Along the way we meet a prized boxer Maxie(James Remar) and Carrie(Janet Gunn), a reporter following him to tell the tale of the forbidden journey or quest, along with Dobbs and Harry, they give aid to Chris when it comes time to face the variety of combatants from around the world. Uultimately Chris must fight Khan, a Mongolian fighter that is crushing the competition.

The story is weak, but its a kick boxer film and they tend not to have too much substance. The does have a nice mix with a Jackie Chan film with the adventure that James Bond had when Roger Moore was at the helm. It does have humor and differs from the stereotypical guide lined fighter story. The direction is there and was given by the star, Jean-Claude having duel roles of star and director. The typical pitfalls are there, but the around the world fighters for the underground fight to the death, is reminiscent to Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat, they come from all walks of life, wanting to be the one. If only SF/MK broke away from their respective cartoony ways and went a bit darker like The Quest or the many of the other fighting/martial arts films, I would have given them a better rating and they may have made sequels. Ohh.. wait both SF and MK have sequels, but not Quest. Let me ask JCVD about that.

Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Roger Moore, Jack McGee and James Remar
Directed by: Jean-Claude Van Damme
Budget/Gross: $30,000,000 (estimated) / $57,400,547 (Worldwide)
IMDB Rating: 4.9/10
Tomatometer: 14% critics and 42% audience liked it