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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One Of The Top 5 Martial Arts Films Of All Time!, April 11, 1999
This review is from: The Challenge [VHS] (VHS Tape)
In my humble opinion, the 2nd best modern-type martial arts film ever made (after Bruce Lee's "Enter The Dragon").
Whereas "Enter The Dragon" was Chinese/Western cultural, "The Challenge" is Japanese/American cultural. East meets West in a big and hard way.
Two brothers have been feuding over possession of 2 family heirloom swords for over 35 years. These are some of the finest katana ever made, and they are over 500 years old. One brother (the bad guy) is (in 1982) a super rich tycoon who has forgotten his Samurai heritage and honor, while the other brother (Mifune, the good guy) has become one of Japan's most revered Samurai Senseis.
The Brother's father had been in the process of ceremonially handing over the Swords to the Good Brother (in 1945) when the Bad Brother steals them, and does something else dreadful in the process.
Two years later, the Bad Brother looses one of the pair of swords to his American captors in the closing days of WWII. This sword is taken to America as a souvenir.
Both brothers have spent the next 35 years tracing this sword, and finally it is found in LA in 1982. Scott Glen plays a has-been pro boxer hired by one of the brothers to help smuggle the sword back into Japan. Once in Japan, Glen gets caught up in the war between the brothers, a war he does not understand due to his American background. But gradually, as he learns more about Japanese culture, and more specifically, as he becomes immersed in the culture of "Bushido", he not only comes to understand, but then accepts as his own all the precepts of the way of the warrior.
Definitely on of my favorite films. Lots of action, some profanity, and very mild sex. And one of the best modern presentations of the Samurai culture ever made. You can see Toshiro Mifune's fingerprints all over it (he also produced the film).
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply the best Japanese sword epic an American can view, January 7, 2003
This is a fascinating & kick-ass movie for anyone interested in Japanese swordplay, & especially great for us stupid Americans (gaijin) who don't know our butts from a brick about the subject, because it's a film ABOUT a gaijin who gets caught up in the middle of a generations-old violent family dispute over a mysterious pair of very important & impressive swords. Scott Glenn (Silence of the Lambs) is an American boxer recruited to smuggle an ancient sword into Japan. Upon arrival he is taken by thugs who explain that the sword he was hired to smuggle is one of a pair of swords known as "The Equals"-- swords passed down from generation to generation in a powerful Japanese bloodline. During the last passing-down ceremony, one of two brothers bloodily ambushed the ceremony, wanting The Equals for his own. Banished, he has become a ruthless & powerful modern business warrior. The other brother has stayed true to his ancient heritage & now trains others in tradition & a myriad of ancient fighting arts, including mastery of the sword. Glenn is forced to choose between the brothers to reunite The Equals & bring an end to this long and bloody feud, one way or another. Along his journey, he(& thus vicariously the viewer)is taught a wealth of knowledge about the ways of both ancient & modern Japanese power and lifestyle. It's a fascinating education that never leaves your intelligence insulted. On top of all this, the action scenes are at once brutal, graceful, thrilling, inventive, never escaping the realm of realism, & just damn astonishing. An outstanding film, The Challenge is one of my all-time favorites.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A western fantasy of Japan that should be on dvd, December 30, 2005
After the Shogun mini series aired on American tv in the late '70s there became an American fascination with all things Japanese. In the early '80s Hollywood was eager to cash in on the Ninja boom and there were a tons of Samurai/Ninja movies ranging from decent to downright awful. The Challenge however deserves some praise while other films of the genre don't.
The Challenge was directed my John Frankenheimer (Ronin, The French Connection II) and is a little known gem of the "Samurai movie boom" in America. The story opens with a broke boxer named Rick (Scott Glenn) who is paid to smuggle a sword back into Osaka, Japan. Little does he know that he has just involved himself in a family feud battling over the ownership of a pair of swords. Toshiro Mifune plays the patriarch of a large family who live in "the good, traditional way" while his rival, bad brother, Atsuo Nakamura, heads a multi national company . Both brothers are determined to get their hands on each others swords to reunite the pair of blades.
One has to admire Frankenheimer for his quick cinematography of Japan. The busses, the street shots and the long views could be just about anywhere in Japan and at times it seems like he deliberately tried to avoid any signs that might give away the actual location of each shot. However all the quick shots leave us nothing to desire about Japan. Granted, filming in Japan in the '80s cost a small fortune and the red tape to even get filming permission to film anywhere must have been a nightmare. Even for those who live in Japan might have a very hard time finding any visible landmarks in the movie....save Sanjo Station in Kyoto, Itami Airport and the Kyoto International visitors center....where the main battle takes place.
The Challenge refreshingly doesn't spend a lot of time dealing with the stereotypical "east vs. west" and the oh so tired "the foreign fish out of water in Japan". Scott Glenn does a great job of playing a naive foreigner who knows nothing about his new world, but doesn't go over the top by over analyzing every little Japanese custom as an odd opposite of "superior" Western culture. Unlike other films of the same genre, there isn't any deep, Japanese Samurai ,philosophy that most films of the era try to enthrall Western viewers with. Yes, it does deal with family honor and the ever popular Western fantasy view that all Japanese have this over emotional, all powerful, love of the Japanese sword. The idea that a family in 1980's Kyoto dressing in traditional clothing and practicing martial arts every waking moment of every day waiting for a battle is....well...laughable and that security guards carry machine guns is beyond realistic.
The only famous Japanese actors are Toshiro Mifune who is legendary and Atsuo Nakamura, who is only really known in Japan and I am pretty sure his English was dubbed for this film. Donna Kei Benz plays the love interest Akiko, who seems really miscast and her acting is awkward. The best line in the whole film is by the Henchman Ando, played by Calvin Jung, who says "I don't understand these people (japanese) either. Every time I come here I understand less and less about them".
Why this movie isn't on DVD is beyond me. There are old video copies being sold for ridiculous prices for this rare, out of print film. I got mine in Japan after a long, seemingly endless search. Luckily, there were English subtitles in the few places where Japanese is spoken. Why this film was ever re-released as "Sword of the Ninja" is slightly insane....since there are NO Ninja in the film and the title alone does the film a discredit.
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