Review of The Challenge (1982) by Adam M — 28 Feb 2011
Preposterous, from the bland title that studio execs must have chosen -- totally unrelated to the content of the movie -- to the desperate symbolism of the last shot. The Challenge is an improvement on 80s action TV only.
Scott Glenn and Calvin Jung, as the two show-off Americans, have some ridiculous dialogue, and Donna Kei Benz has no non-abs-related reason to sleep with Scott Glenn, except that he is a white beer drinker and deserves a reward for race-crossing loyalty and a heart as big as all Texas.
The melodrama is almost tongue-in-cheek, especially with the little Japanese kid who washes clothes hoping to be a warrior, battles low self-esteem and speaks English like he was an orphan trying to get couples to take him home.
In the end, office furniture is mightier than the sword -- or at least an insidious rival to the sword with its unwieldy symbolism. But Toshiro Mifune is good to see and a few sequences are edited very well.
This review of The Challenge (1982) was written by Adam M on 28 Feb 2011.
The Challenge has generally received positive reviews.
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