The Challenge

2005
5.1| 1h42m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 01 January 2005 Released
Producted By: action concept
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

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.

Genre

Action

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The Challenge (2005) is now streaming with subscription on HULU

Director

Johannes Jaeger

Production Companies

action concept

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The Challenge Audience Reviews

GamerTab That was an excellent one.
Megamind To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.
Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.
Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Horst in Translation ([email protected]) And this refers to the fact that almost nobody from the cast and crew of this film is still working prolifically in their respective fields. This includes especially writer and director Johannes Jaeger, who made this 100-minute movies based on a short film he wrote earlier in his career. This includes lead actor Mathis Landwehr as well, who is clearly a casting decision in terms of looks over talent. There were a couple situations in here when he was bearable and that was thanks to the supporting actress being even less talented. However, as bad as the acting in here may be, it has nothing on the abysmal writing, especially the dialogs. Good lord, a disaster from start to finish. Completely unfunny, unrealistic comments paired with the actors inability to deliver them convincingly easily makes this one of the worst films of the 21st century. The writing in terms of story wasn't good at all either, but it seemed like a revelation compared to the dialogs. There's better dialogs in porn no doubt about it. The story is very generic. Martial arts student has his master killed and he takes revenge on the one who did it. While doing so, he recovers a priceless book and falls in love with his buddy's sister. The music is a catastrophe as well, mix of hip hop and techno, which fits the tale only in terms of quality, but never in terms of contents. Horrible horrible film and I can only shake my head at other reviewers here who called this a hidden gem. Are you kidding me??? This does not even have German soap opera level. Stay far far away.
StevinTasker 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.
myonlyb-1 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.
chai-borja I was channel surfing at home early this morning when I came across this German film in Star Movies (it was dubbed in English). The thing that caught my attention was the fact that it was a martial arts movie which made use of the Filipino martial art arnis, and that the fight scenes were very well choreographed.The movie centered on Jonas Klingenberg (Mathis Landwehr, who's being a hottie did not hurt one bit), an apprentice of a murdered martial arts expert who was keeping in his care a very valuable book which contained (apparently) many secrets to becoming a very powerful martial artist. The movie opened with a scene showing Jonas being shot from behind by a really hot-looking woman, and his master fighting against the villain, Bosco, and the antagonist, eventually, succeeding in stealing the precious book.The setting of the movie was in 2050, showing a particular town (which I assumed was a metaphor for the whole world) to be a vast wasteland, controlled by the "evil" Bosco, who seemed to be concerned only with creating a powerful team of martial artists. Think Matrix meets Bulletproof Monk, meets Robin Hood (Jonas eventually became somewhat a defender of the masses by teaching most of the "homeless people" how to fight using his technique, and stealing from the bad, giving it to the poor...that kind of thing...).I know, I know, this plot has been done, revisited, redone, and visited once again by sooooo many producers, scriptwriters, directors, and what-have-yous in the movie industry, you are starting to ask if it would still be a successful venture.My answer: for this particular movie, yes. I fell in love with this movie. I'm not a big fan of martial arts flicks, but, somehow, this changed my mind. It had a good story line going, although the part where in there was some sort of a rave party going on after their group was successfully able to ambush most of the food ration trucks, was a bit off for me. But they were able to justify why that scene was there, as well as why Jonas had to make love to Maria outside their hide-out, and not in some secluded area in their sewer-hiding place.All in all, this movie was worth it. I found it good enough for me to actually research it over the internet, and write up this comment.