THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 2, 1996 TAG: 9605020032
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
JEAN-CLAUDE Van Damme now has something in common with both Charlie Chaplin and Orson Welles.
All three have directed themselves in movies.
``The Quest,'' Van Damme's directorial debut, isn't much of a movie even though it is highly ambitious in terms of epic visuals. It attempts to re-create 1920s New York as well as treks across Asia. In the end, though, it becomes just another ``till the death'' tournament.
Van Damme, in real life, is a very funny man. On film, though, he refuses to let any of this seep through. Schwarzenegger and particularly Jackie Chan films get away with many implausibilities because the audience is encouraged to have fun with them.
Van Damme, on the other hand, insists that we take even a plot this silly with a straight face. He has one expression - a mixture of anger and bewilderment.
He plays Chris Dubois (no relation, presumably to the sad Blanche Dubois of ``A Streetcar Named Desire''), a pickpocket who sometimes masquerades as a clown in 1925 New York. In an attempt to protect his herd of Dickensian orphans, he is set adrift on a ship bound for Asia. In the film's kinkiest scene, the smugglers chain him up and force him to pose. (Actually, he's trying to break the chains, but it looks more like posing.)
This comes to an end when Roger Moore attacks. The former 007, who refuses to play his scenes seriously, is a gun smuggler who calls himself ``the last of the buccaneers.''
He adopts Van Damme but eventually sells him to a Thai kick-boxer trainer. Six months later, the fully trained V-D shows up in the gambling halls of Bangkok.
He, though, wants the big time. He wants Ghan-geng.
Contrary to your first guess, that is not an item on the menu of a Chinese restaurant. It's the mother of all fights.
Set in the Lost City of Tibet, the Atlanta of the east, it's a series of elimination bouts which take up a good half of the movie.
Van Damme is smart. He knows that his audience doesn't want a lot of talk.
The competition, though, is patently ridiculous as they pit varied fighting skills against each other. There are bits of sumo, muay Thai, shotokan karate, shaolin kung-fu, boxing, capoeira, tae kwan do and Greco-Roman wrestling.
Looking silliest is the entry from Spain, who takes the stance of a flamenco dancer. Pitted against opponents three times his size, even the star V-D looks positively puny.
Moore is merely comedy relief between the bouts.
The real villain is Abdel Oissi, the Moroccan who has been a friend of Van Damme's since childhood in Belgium.
The resident female is a newspaper reporter who tags along to Tibet to report the events.
Janet Gunn, who has the role, is reduced to yelling ``Come on'' to the sweating Van Damme as he fights a highly predictable final bout.
The photography and the music (by Randy Edelman of ``Gettysburg'') are fine but the silly plot refuses to let you take it seriously. As quests go, it's pretty tame.
It isn't likely that Van Damme will direct Meryl Streep for his next outing. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``The Quest''
Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Roger Moore, James Remar, Janet
Gunn
Director: Jean-Claude Van Damme
MPAA rating: PG-13 (violence, some language)
Mal's rating: One 1/2 stars
Locations: Cinemark, Greenbrier 13, Chesapeake; Janaf, Main Gate,
Norfolk; Lynnhaven 8, Pembroke, Surf-n-Sand, Virginia Beach
by CNB