The Quest Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

The Quest Blu-ray Movie Review

Van Damme-a-Lot

Reviewed by Michael Reuben April 15, 2012

Ever since his performance in JCVD, I've no longer felt embarrassed for believing all these years that there's more to Jean-Claude Van Damme than just "The Muscles from Brussels". But it hasn't been easy. Movie careers based on martial arts or other sports showcasing physical prowess so easily lend themselves to parody, even self-parody, that the actor gets lost beneath the action even when there's genuine talent there (which isn't always the case, as Steven Seagal has repeatedly proved). It didn't help that Van Damme's rise to fame was so closely identified with martial arts impressario Frank Dux, whose famously unverifiable life story was the basis for Bloodsport, Van Damme's breakout film in 1988.

Dux dipped further into his fabulous (and fabricated) life for the story of The Quest, which he and Van Damme co-wrote before handing it off to a pair of screenwriters (Steve Klein and Paul Mones). You can tell the story comes from the mind of a fantasist who's too lazy to fill in the connecting parts, because it's less a story than an anthology of elements from every classic boy's adventure tale: orphans, pirates, exotic far-off lands, charming rogues, a beautiful girl, fabulous treasure, a fight against impossible odds. For some reason, Van Damme chose this script for his directorial debut. Maybe no other director was willing to take it on.

As it turns out, The Quest is not badly made. Van Damme had been in over a dozen films by then, and he'd worked with experienced directors, including John Woo and Peter Hyams. Clearly he was paying attention. But even the best direction can't overcome a poor script, and The Quest was a flop domestically and less than a blockbuster abroad, despite its array of multinational martial arts talent. Van Damme didn't direct again until 2010's The Eagle Path, which remains unreleased.

In a sort of prologue, an elderly man walks alone into an empty bar. When three young hoodlums try to hold up the place, the old man beats them down with astonishing dexterity. Then he tells the bartender a story.

It's 1925. Mysterious messengers deliver scrolls to fighting champions around the world. The scrolls contain invitations to a tournament to be held in the Lost City of Tibet. The winner will become the proud owner of a solid gold dragon, worth a fortune. One of the recipients of a scroll is the U.S. heavyweight boxing champion, Maxie Devine, who is played by James Remar, best known today as Dexter Morgan's adoptive father, Harry.

On the streets of New York, Christopher Dubois (Van Damme) looks out for a ragtag group of orphans. An abandoned orphan himself (his history is telegraphed in brief flashbacks), Dubois directs his minions in petty thefts like a benevolent Fagin—benevolent but not too smart. When he arranges a bigger score from big-time hoodlums, they come looking for their money, followed by the police. Dubois helps his kids escape, but he himself inadvertently stows away on an ocean freighter manned by gunrunners, who put him in chains, work him hard and are just about to execute him, when they're attacked by a pirate ship captained by "Lord" Edgar Dobbs (Roger Moore, the best thing in the film).

Dubois saves Dobbs's life during the battle, and Dobbs repays him by offering to get him home to the children, to whom Dubois promised he'd return. Instead, Dobbs and his lieutenant, Smythe (former NYC fireman Jack McGee), sell Dubois to Khao (Aki Aleong), who trains fighters in Muay Thai fighting on an island near Siam.

Six months later, Dobbs and Smythe are passing the time in Bangkok, where they pick up a young "journalist" named Carrie Newton (Janet Gunn in a role originally intended for Madonna, if you can believe it). She asks Dobbs to show her some real action; so he takes her to a fight, where—wouldn't you know it?—the main attraction turns out to be Dubois, who's become a champion fighter. Dobbs arranges to buy him back from Khao and strikes a deal with Dubois to crash the tournament in the Lost City and either win or steal the golden dragon. This requires intercepting Maxie Devine, so that the group can piggyback on his invitation. Ms. Newton tags along to write the story.

After various twists, none of them especially interesting, Dubois ends up in the tournament facing off against the Mongolian entrant, a fierce mountain of an opponent known as Khan (Abdel Qissi,) who seems unbeatable. Guess who wins? In the meantime, numerous fighters and fighting styles are showcased in what amounts to a demo reel for martial arts.

In the end we return to Dubois as an old man, but no one ever explains how he got back to New York and kept his promise to the orphans. Despite the title, and for all the references to a "quest", it's hard to say exactly what Dubois was after. Far from having a purpose, he just seemed to do whatever was necessary to survive from one catastrophe to the next.

The Quest Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

In an ironic turn, Universal has done a much finer job with The Quest on Blu-ray than with a number of more popular (and better) catalog titles. The 1080p, AVC-encoded presentation is consistently sharp and detailed, with solid blacks, vivid colors and a natural and readily identifiable grain pattern that never becomes obtrusive. The sole exceptions are a few brief location-establishing shots that have obviously been pulled from stock footage and can be instantly spotted as such.

The Quest being a Universal catalog title, it is axiomatic among certain posters at Blu-ray.com that any reviewer who says something complimentary about the video is (a) blind, (b) ignorant, (c) unworthy of credence, or (d) all of the above. Some posters offering these opinions base their judgments exclusively on star ratings and screencaps and don't even notice the inconsistency when they come back, after watching the actual disc, and offer a rating almost identical to the reviewer's.

There are those for whom the name "Universal" is synonymous with something called "DNR". The latter is a term that, to the extent it once had meaning, has ceased to have any beyond "I don't like the picture". Anyone familiar with a telecine bay or a digital colorist's workstation understands that there is no knob or setting labeled "DNR". The term has gained currency on the internet as yet one more example of the adage that "a little learning is a dangerous thing". If the concern is that the producers of a disc are filtering away detail for one purpose or another, I saw no indication of such treatment on The Quest while watching the disc on a properly calibrated 72" display.

The Quest Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

By far the best element of the Blu-ray of The Quest is its DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, which is loud, aggressive and active in all five regular channels. Whether it's the roar of the crowd at fights, the sound of the waves at sea or cannon fire during the pirate assault, the rear channels are almost always alive with discrete activity, even at low levels. The bass extension is loud and powerful without being boomy, as the cannons on Lord Dobbs's ship will immediately demonstrate. Dialogue is clearly rendered (Van Damme wisely keeps his own to a minimum), and the forgettable score by Randy Edelman folds into the mix and vanishes, because the sound effects are more interesting.

The Quest Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The disc has no unique features, although Universal continues its habit of listing bookmarks ("MyScenes") and D-Box motion control as Extras. Consistent with recent Universal mastering practices, the disc has no main menu, which is an annoyance that renders bookmarking considerably less useful. The Quest is enabled for BD-Live, and it includes the Universal "ticker" and may download previews from the internet if your player has a live connection.

The Quest Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

For the classic Van Damme fan, The Quest is a letdown, because it doesn't have enough meaty "Muscles from Brussels" action until the very end. For those like me, who found the character beats in Timecop a reason to sit up and take notice, there isn't enough credibility in any of the characters to make The Quest worth watching (and what there is belongs entirely to Roger Moore). The sound mix is fun, but you can get that with dozens of better films. So I'm afraid this one is strictly for the Van Damme completists. For them, Universal has provided a nicely done catalogue title. Let the wailing commence.