Originally released nearly two years prior in its native Germany, indie martial arts actioner THE CHALLENGE (aka KAMPFANSAGE) has quietly arrived in the U.S. on home video. Conceeptually, it’s an ambitious title attempting to fuse modern movie martial arts flair with a sci-fi premise of a civil war-torn Europe overrun by anarchy, the loss of modern technology and in one city, a Nazi-like martial regime.
Creative visual effects and location use evoke a bleak future of a crumbling urban environment where a small army of masked thugs, under the command of a despotic brother and sister, battle with “insurgents” using nothing but martial arts due to the gradual decay of ballistics technology.
Entering into this scenario is Jonas (Mathis Landwehr), a blonde-haired martial arts student returning after recovering from an injury to bury the body of his slain martial arts master and reclaim his “kung fu” manual. It’s held by Bosco (Christian Monz), who along with his vampy sister Kleo (Zora Holt), had killed Jonas’ master and left him for dead. The murder was a reprisal for the killing of their father, a warlord once determined to wipe out all of the old masters of martial arts.
While fleeing Bosco’s men, Jonas runs into a small band of deserters that escaped the overlord’s brainwashing. Jonas befriends their bearded leader Vinzent (Volkram Zschiesche) and predictably falls in love with Vinzent’s attractive sister Marie (Sinta Weisz).
After achieving his initial goals, Jonas decides to train and lead local citizens in fighting back against Bosco’s oppression. The conflict steadily intensifies until Vinzent is captured during a raid on the insurgents’ hideout. In response, Jonas and Marie head to Bosco’s mansion to rescue Vinzent and have a finale showdown.
I like writer-director Johannes Jaeger’s vision, even if it is blurry and flawed in many respects. By using a future sci-fi setting to remove gunplay, he gives us the opportunity to focus on an intriguing scenario where we see the reemergence of strict martial arts discipline as a means of survival, subjugation and expression. How this idea is applied is less compelling.
The major problem is a lack of clarity with the main hook, which is that THE CHALLENGE is basically a somewhat traditional martial arts movie wrapped in a slick, modern presentation. There is frequent mention of a supreme martial arts, found within the pages of the stolen manual, and also known by Jonas. Yet this technique is never defined in any meaningful way. What we witness is a complete hodge-podge of martial arts and screen fighting techniques with no real definition.
There is a ton of Taekwondo high-kicking, way too much really. All throughout, there is also too much repetition, ineffectual striking and Donnie Yen-style arm and leg flurries. Limited weapons combat ranges from Escrima-style stick fighting to staff sparring and spear handling. It appears that Hapkido throws and takedowns are included, possibly some Aikido and less-defined fist and elbow sparring. Never did I get a sense that any of these techniques defined any of the characters. Instead, they all appear to be used, along with flashy posing and editing, just to make the stunt actors look better. Wires are also used for some flips and there is acrobatics tossed in here and there.
The editing style during fights is often jarring and chaotic. I wouldn’t call it sloppy, but it’s far from clean and veers towards gimmickry with regard to the many spliced reaction shots and lighting. One fight is lit only by a strobe light. It’s an interesting idea, but one that my strained eyes would be happy to never witness again.
Action performances from Mathis Landwehr and his co-star Volkram Zschiesche are not bad, but not great either. Both are able to adequately fight their way through a number of challenging action scenes including a decent match between the two. They also ham it up during most of these scenes and that’s where their delivery falters. Basically, they’re trying too hard to look cool, from Zschiesche’s cheeky facial expressions to Landwehr’s MATRIX body posturing. What’s worse is that Christian Monz, who shares martial arts choreography credits with the other two stars, is horribly miscast as the lead villain. Both his flaccid acting and screen fighting skills are not suited for the part.
With the exception of the luscious Zora Holt, the rest of the cast is just filler. She actually comes to the rescue where the villains are concerned by delivering a sultry performance as a shrewd seductress who uses her sexuality to manipulate everyone around her including her brother. Yes, their relationship involves blatant incestuous activity. Apparently, technology isn’t the only thing to have regressed in this futuristic vision of Europe.
The movie gets good mileage from its rundown locations, art direction and score. Some of the costuming is a little corny though, particularly the masked thugs and Bosco’s entire look, from the silk robes to the biker-style facial hair.
Overall, THE CHALLENGE is about as creative and exciting as its English title. There have already been far too many similar movies that attempt to put martial arts conflict into an anti-utopian future. There is DISTRICT B13, PRINCESS BLADE, BLOOD HEAT, and LEGEND OF THE WOLF to name just a few. While again, I appreciate any attempt to offer an update to the martial ethos that was once a matter of survival in parts of Asia, most attempts come across as trite and unconvincing. If I were to single out the representation of martial arts alone, I’d have to say that THE CHALLENGE is one of the worst examples of these types of films. However, as a standard low-budget action movie, it has its moments.
by Mark Pollard
