Dir. Scott Mann, UK, 2009, 95 mins
Cast: Robert Carlyle, Ving Rhames, Kelly Hu, Liam Cunningham, Ian Somerhalder
Review by Jean Lynch
Thirty Assassins. 24 hours. One winner.
With such a high concept movie tagline, non-stop adrenalin pumping action, and a body count that would put Rambo to shame, it can only mean one thing – a great big kickass Hollywood blockbuster, right? Wrong! The Tournament forever silences the cries that Britain is good only for costume or kitchen sink dramas, or floppy haired Notting Hill types who say ‘gosh’ a lot in Richard Curtis movies. Here, at last, is a home-grown action movie that stands shoulder to shoulder with anything to come out of the American studio system in the last 20 years.
Every seven years, the world’s greatest assassins compete in The Tournament, organised by a syndicate of wealthy billionaire gamblers who bet on the outcome. The last man standing receives 10 million dollars in prize money and is proclaimed champion. This year, for the first time, The Tournament is to be played out on the streets of Great Britain, in Middlesborough no less, because as charismatic syndicate leader Powers (Cunningham) says ‘we have more CCTV cameras here than anywhere on earth’ enabling the syndicate to enjoy every gut-wrenching, neck-breaking, gore-filled moment from their secret location.
Favourite at 2-1 is Joshua Harlow (Rhames), the returning champion. This time he’s out to avenge his wife’s murder, dead at the hands of one of the competitors. Coming in at 10-1 is Lai Lai Zen (Hu), whose delicate beauty belies the fact that she was killing for the Triads at 17. Antone Bogart (Sebastien Foucan), meanwhile, lives for the thrill of the hunt. His odds are 9-1.
And then there’s Father McAvoy (Carlyle), a down-at-heel priest, a drunk and a broken man. He prays to the Blessed Virgin to be ‘a good man … a strong man’. They say God moves in mysterious ways but not even the man of the cloth could guess how his test would come when he finds himself inadvertently a player in the world’s most lethal game. Powers gives him odds of 500-1.
Crammed full of highly imaginative set pieces and with many of the actors doing their own stunts, the audience is treated to death after gory death, which the camera never shies away from. Fingers sliced off with chicken wire? Check. Bodies blown apart by hand grenades? Check. Just about every violent way to kill a person is graphically but brilliantly on display. It’s beautifully shot and full marks should go to cinematographer Emil Topuzoz for some wonderfully artistic arrangements of spattered blood and guts. But then, the production values are exceptionally high all round. Often it’s the case that British films, for a variety of reasons, have to skimp a little but not so with The Tournament. With an estimated budget of $8m (and believe me, that’s not a lot for a film like this) cast and crew have pulled off an admirable feat, expertly utilizing all the tools at their disposal. There’s some great acting here too and, although it’s undeniably an out-and-out action movie, there’s some great storylines, such as Lai Lai looking for redemption for her last kill – an innocent woman, that add a surprising amount of depth to the film.
Sure, the references are obvious – Battle Royale, Die Hard , a dash of Tarantino, some style borrowed from Rodriguez, heck there’s even a bit of John Woo slo-mo thrown in for good measure – but what debut feature director Mann (whose previous film was the naughty-but-nice comedy short Tug of War, starring Corrie’s Bet Lynch, Julie Goodyear) has achieved with The Tournament is quite remarkable. A great British action movie; who would have thought?
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