The Challenge

January. 01,2005      
Rating:
5.1
Trailer Synopsis Cast

Welcome to the future. Civilization has been obliterated by natural catastrophes and global economic collapse. In the rotting skeletons of once great cities, the remnants of mankind struggle to survive under the brutal reign of vicious warlords who rule by fear and the power of the fist. The only hope for a courageous band of street urchins is the brave fighter Jonas, the last surviving keeper of the secrets of an ancient martial arts dynasty. Jonas must challenge the heartless Bosco in a fight for freedom or death ... only then can he become master of mankind's destiny.

Mathis Landwehr as  Jonas Klingenberg
Esther Schweins as  Linda
Volkram Zschiesche as  Vinzent Lakotta
Bela B. as  The Executior
Wolfgang Stegemann as  Edgar
Mike Möller as  Mike
Martin Goeres as  Berlin Fighter
Ferdinand Fischer as  Gregor
Zora Holt as  Kleo

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Reviews

Moustroll
2005/01/01

Good movie but grossly overrated

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HeadlinesExotic
2005/01/02

Boring

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Gutsycurene
2005/01/03

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

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BelSports
2005/01/04

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

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kosmasp
2005/01/05

The director himself said, that this wasn't supposed to be seen in cinemas (it was shown at the Fantasy Filmfest at several cities throughout Germany), but was made for TV. So having that in mind, you might rate it a bit higher than me. And the director seemed like a nice guy (he even showed his movie in China at a festival and they loved it there, he told us). Why the loved it? One can guess because they didn't really catch onto the fact, that the people "acting" in this movie, couldn't really be called actors and so they just enjoyed the action scenes instead.And if you're only out for the action, than you will enjoy this too. But if you're looking for something deeper, something meaningful, stay away from this film. Apart from the fact, that there's no real acting in this movie, there's also no story to found anywhere near it also. There are of course other martial arts movies who were great, with little-to-none story also, but they had even better fight scenes. That of course brings us back to the beginning: This movie did not have much money/a big budget! I don't think it deserves more than 3 points (out of 10), but I might have considered some of the facts I listed above into my vote ...

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StevinTasker
2005/01/06

Paying homage to the post apocalyptic genre with echoes of stories like Fist of the North Star, Cyborg and the Postman this movie is infused with adrenalin, enthusiasm, rage, excitement, and action. It has a huge heart and the fact that it was made on a limited budget is testament to the skill and passion of those involved. They say that first time features made with limited financial support will have failings somewhere around Lighting, Script, Score and CGI. I am pleased to say that the piece is effectively lit even when filmed in cavernous tunnels. I rather like the CGI; it's obvious of course, but it offers a unique visual vista and blends well with the other outdoor scenes. The script, well, I watched the movie in German with English subtitles and found that the characters, although very familiar, (the hero falls somewhere between Kenshiro and Robin Hood) were comfortable rather than caricature. When the lead was doing voice over to convey his thoughts it really worked well for me, there was something about the sound of his voice that gave what I was reading some resonance. I thought the score generally worked well. I have some difficulty in accepting techno music in any setting; thankfully for me, its unwelcome intrusion was brief. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the fight choreography and the stunt work. In addition to all this, some of the cinematography was extremely effective, especially the two wonderful sweeping shots on top of the building during the final showdown. I won't pretend that the story is anything new but it is carried off with such bare faced enthusiasm and more than a little respect for the genre that I can't help but like it. I tracked this down from the makers own website. I'm glad to say that I was happy to pay the few euros for such a great product.

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myonlyb-1
2005/01/07

Quite a lot of illogical things. I found the idea nice to have a German action and fighting movie. But the actors are not good enough, the story is unbelievably flat. As example, you know who will be the traitor after about 20mins, whereas the actual treason takes place after an hour. Guns etc. have been forgotten, but are still in use by some of the people. The inhabitants of Berlin in 2045 are all young and handsome, they have supplies but no one knows where they come from etc.After all, the fighting scenes are quite nice, you have a connecting story, which unfortunately does not explain all the fights. But the story is more like those connecting parts of a computer game.... and that definitely is not enough for a real movie.

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xcver
2005/01/08

This movie was set up after two successful short movies called Kampfansage. With a film budget of just 300.000 Euro and about 30 days too short this movie came in incredibly good. The market for German produced martial arts is virtually nil and this could be seen as a mile stone. Although It'll most probably not appear in German cinemas (except the Fantasy Filmfest 2005) it was shown with great success at a film festival in Shanghai and will be marketed in China.The movie plays in the latter 2040's in a war tattered Germany. Europe and most probably the rest of the world has fallen into utter chaos after long years of fighting. Technology has vanished and the rise of martial arts has begun. An Evil ruler tried to conquer all of Germany and kill the present martial arts masters there. but was killed at the hands of the last remaining master. his children bosco and cleo now carry on his legacy and bring down the last master and his last disciple or so they thought...what will ensue now is a mix of nicely done battles and sometimes humor as well. Jaeger manages to mix it together despite lacking time and resources to shoot scenes the way they are shot in Asia or USA.I'm giving it a 9 out of 10 for sheer innovation and fun value. I'll buy the DVD as soon as it hits the shelves...

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