Review of The Tournament (2009) by Mike

Title: The Tournament (2009)

Original UK Release Date: 25^th July 2010

Original US Release Date: 20^th October 2009

UK Rating: 18

US Rating: R

Director: Scott Mann

Genre: Action

Plot: Every seven years, a random town somewhere on the planet is chosen to host the ultimate tournament. A tournament that pits 30 of the world’s best assassins against each other until only one remains and wins $10,000,000. They have 24 hours.

Mike's Review

This was a film I chose on the spur of the moment. Couldn't decide on what to watch and decided on this as I hadn't heard of it before.

The tournament pits the world’s best assassins against each other every seven years. This one is held in an English town in Middlesbrough. All the assassins have trackers implanted under their skin so they can be tracked. The tournament is watched and bet on for the entertainment of the world's richest people.

The film has a great cast that includes Ving Rhames, Robert Carlyle, Kelly Hu, Ian Somerhalder, Liam Cunningham, Sebastien Foucan, Craig Conway, Rachel Grant & Bashar Rahal. The character of Father MacAvoy played by Robert Carlyle is a great addition to the film, an innocent and accidental participant in the tournament, who gives a level of humanity in an otherwise brutal film. However the stand out performance for me was Sebastien Foucan. He is one of the creators of Parkour (free running). Every time he is on screen he shows off his abilities in astounding ways.

The film is about people hunting people in a similar vain to The Hunger Games where people are made to fight for survival until there is only one left standing. However that is where the similarity ends. This is a violent and brutal film. It reminded me of the action films of the 80’s with Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The action and fights are similar, but unlike those films where there was one almost super human hero, this doesn't have that. There are people that are more civilised than others and some that are pure evil. They are all, with the exception of Father MacAvoy, highly trained killers and fairly evenly matched.

This is a crazy movie, filled with action of a high standard. The battles between the assassins range from a quick and sudden kill, to massive shoot outs, big explosions and car chases as the players of the game attempt to win. The kills are violent and bloody, and by bloody I mean really bloody also with some dismemberments thrown in! There are many hand to hand fights that are spectacular to see. The final battle on a moving double decker bus is outstanding.

This is director Scott Manns first time directing a big movie. Hopefully we will see more from him soon.

This is fun to watch with all the elements that go together to make a good action film. If, like me you are an action movie fan, it ticks many of the boxes.

7 out of 10

Additional Information

Stand out performance: Sebastien Foucan as Anton Bogart

Trailer