The Tournament (2009)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Powers (Cunningham) is the mastermind behind THE TOURNAMENT - an event where the best assassins in the world vie to kill each other to become the number one killer - and rake in a ten million dollar prize. Unsuspecting priest Father MacAvoy (Carlyle) becomes embroiled in all the craziness when he accidentally swallows a tracking device meant for the competitors (and will explode after 24 hours). Lai Lai Zhen (Hu) takes him under her wing in order to protect him, which will be necessary with psychos like Miles Slade (Somerhalder) on their tail. Of course, last year's winner, Joshua Harlow (Rhames) returns - but what are his true motives? Who will be victorious in THE TOURNAMENT? The Tournament is a lot of fun and never anything less than totally entertaining. It's professionally and competently made, which gives the action, fun, and thrills a solidity that captivates the audience. While there is a satisfying amount of very cool, comic-book violence, there's also a nice upbeat feel and some humorous dialogue. Like The Raid (2011), it's essentially one feature-length action scene, interspersed with short interstitial bits of exposition that move the plot along before propelling into the next action setpiece. It's all very winning and audience pleasing. Add to that a great pace and plenty of surprises, and you can't lose.The premise - a bunch of assassins vying to kill each other, with a likable innocent caught in the middle of it all - is a can't-lose proposition for the audience and, thankfully - and unusually - it actually lives up to its potential. The killer plot idea is wonderfully brought to life by a colorful cast of characters and fan favorites. Robert Carlyle is endearing as MacAvoy, and we get to see "action Ving Rhames", mixing it up with the best of them, which we loved seeing. We also loved that fan favorite Scott Adkins was involved, though, like a lot of others in the tournament, his time is necessarily limited. We understand. Kelly Hu made a top-notch "good assassin", a perfect mirror image to Somerhalder's "boo-hiss" evil assassin. Capping it all off is the charisma of Liam Cunningham as Powers, putting a focus to all the chaotic goings-on.Sure, we've seen similar plots before - even David Heavener fell victim to the "shady underground putting up cash and watching participants kill each other" situation, as has Robert Z'Dar and Jeff Wincott - in Fugitive X (1996), Dragonfight (1990), and Fatal Combat (1995), respectively - but The Tournament has so much verve it makes it all seem fresh. The individuals in the tournament each have clearly defined identities, as action movies used to have (i.e. Shootfighter, etc.) so it never becomes amorphous and hard to follow. Commendably, CGI seems to be kept to a minimum as well, reinforcing the old-school feel.All the elements come together nicely, from the action scenes, fights, blow-ups, slo-mo moments (we'd say "slo-moments", but we don't want anyone to think there are any slow moments), and it's all pretty over the top and somewhat cartoonish, in a good way. For example, we learned if you want to get a grenade away from you, you can just shoot it with a handgun. The image of shooting a grenade with a gun pretty much sums up The Tournament - modern-day meta-violence, and slightly ridiculous - but it's all for the fans and you gotta love it.

The priest MacAvoy (Robert Carlyle) is mistaken for a killer, because he cannot get rid of an electronic signal transmitter. Various other killers chase him, while only Lai Lai Zhen (Kelly Hu) helps him. The story goes back a long way to the 1965 classic "The Tenth Victim" by Elio Petri, a killers' tournament for the pleasure of a TV audience. The big difference to various other movies shot in recent years about the same subject is that the hero of the movie is not the toughest killer of them all who will probably win the tournament. Instead we have a guy who is terribly scared, running and hiding. Whereas we usually get a hero who is well prepared for the battle, we have someone here who has no idea how to escape. Thus 'The Tournament' becomes an action movie with a difference. A weak point, however, is the description of the tournament organizers. There is a bunch of guys sitting around a table full of money, but they remain cartoon images of bad rich people without any depth. The action sequences, on the other hand, are fast and well done which probably caused a lot of comparisons to 'Crank' and such like.

Wow. I was expecting a mediocre executed movie but it turned out to be awesome from the first minute in. I don't know why the movie gets so much negative feedback here.When you watch the movie it's very clear that the makers were inspired by "Battle Royale" and "Terminator 2". A solid cast: Ving Rhames (always bad-ass), Robert Carlyle, Ian Somerhalder (who does surprisingly well!) and a action-packed small role for Scott Adkins. Guns, gore, boobs and loads of stunts & action!Highly recommended for action-fans!7/10

I was looking forward to this film, since it sounded like an interesting idea.Just a few minutes into the film you see that it's the same set-up as Battle Royale. And quite frankly, lot's of things seem to be taken directly from that film. I know the concept isn't new, but I really hoped that this film would do something unique for it self. Instead, it's Battle Royale, with adults. And the premise that they are assassins. Unfortunately I don't really see that. There is only one person that seem to actually be an assassin, perhaps two but we don't get to see much of it. Instead we see supposed "assasins" who can't hit the good guy with a weapon from five meters away. It's more like watching an early Bond film.The only good part is the fact that every head shot looks real. Other than that the film is predictable at every turn and the characters are almost one dimensional.