The Quest

"A lost city. A man of destiny. A test of honor."

1996 1h 35m EN

😐

6.2

MID

★6.2TMDB · 822

ActionAdventureDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Ghang-gheng, the ancient winner-take-all competition in which the deadliest fighters from around the world employ the most spectacular feats of martial arts skills ever displayed in order to win the prized Golden Dragon. But fighting prowess alone will not be enough for Chris to triumph over such daunting foes.

“A lost city. A man of destiny. A test of honor.”

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Cast

Jean-Claude Van Damme
Christopher Dubois
Roger Moore
Lord Edgar Dobbs
James Remar
Maxie Devine
Jack McGee
Harry Smythe
Louis Mandylor
Riggi
Ryan Cutrona
Officer O'Keefe
Ze'ev Revach
Turk Captain
Janet Gunn
Carrie Newton

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jean-Claude Van Damme
Writers: Steve Klein, Paul Mones, Jean-Claude Van Damme
Languages: English
Countries: Canada, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

30 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: Canada, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jean-Claude Van Damme, shot by David Gribble. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Randy Edelman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor John F. Link shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Jean-Claude Van Damme and Roger Moore and James Remar carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A lost city. A man of destiny. A test of honor.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0117420 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jean-Claude Van Damme directs. David Gribble behind the camera. Randy Edelman scores. John F. Link cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in Canada, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

130 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2International production across 2 countries: Canada, United States of America.
3Directed by Jean-Claude Van Damme, shot by David Gribble. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Randy Edelman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor John F. Link shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Jean-Claude Van Damme and Roger Moore and James Remar carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "A lost city. A man of destiny. A test of honor.".
8IMDB entry: tt0117420 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 13 themes, including "new york city", "island", "martial arts", "himalaya mountain range".

The technical file

Cinematography: David Gribble
Original score: Randy Edelman
Editing: John F. Link
Production design: Steve Spence
Costume design: Joseph A. Porro
Makeup / hair: Udomporn Chinnabud
Runtime: 95 min · 1h 35m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $30,000,000
Box office: $57,400,547
Return: 191% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: The Quest (1996)

Also by

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Full Love
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Community reviews

What people are saying

DonGable2024-08-07
★ 6/10
Bloodsport light. "The Quest" suffers from a problem that many of these flicks did back in the '90s. They never truly build up the character relations, which is a recurring theme from really propelling these films upwards. They could easily have used 20 minutes more and really made you care more about the characters. We are not even treated with a proper training sequence, which would've established a connection between Van Damme's character and those training him. Instead, they're just people you saw for a couple of seconds followed by a "6 months later..."-screen. Both Roger Moore and James Remar are great additions, making the most of their screen time, although it's a shame that the latter never gets a true mentor role. Janet Gunn is just sort of there, and they do nothing worthwhile with her role. The main villain in the ring is just a discount Tong Po (from Kickboxer). He's nowhere near as menacing as either Tong Po or Chong Li (from Bloodsport), and does not have the same screen presence either. One thing that was really cool is all the different fighting styles represented in the competition. I would've liked some of the fights to be a bit longer and truly showcase the styles. One glaring mistake they made is that during many of the fights, they use slow motion. However, they did not film it with high framerate cameras, they just took 24 fps footage and slowed it down, which makes it look really choppy. Such a wasted opportunity. It's really a shame because there is a genuine good motion picture under the surface. And it is by no means a bad directional debut by Van Damme. With better writers, I believe he could have been quite decent. (It's a bit lazy how they re-used the photo of Van Damme from "Timecop" for the poster...)

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