Chanpuru Surely nobody watches a film like The Challenge expecting a work of art or a deeper cultural understanding, but if you're looking for even a half decent film you'll be equally disappointed. Scott Glenn plays an American looser who travels to Kyoto and becomes embroiled in a family feud regarding a long lost sword. He meets the legendary Toshiro Mifune........ but if you're expecting the Toshiro Mifune of 'Seven Samurai' and 'Yojimbo' fame you will be extremely disappointed. This is Mifune at his lowest ebb towards the end of his career where he had begun to appear in a number of low grade American B-movies just for the money. You see, the main problems that The Challenge faces is that it has a story that is thoroughly un-engaging whilst also being riddled with just about ever cliché you can think of. Every Japanese person is a mindless, sadistic, humourless, sour-faced robot, obsessed with honour and budo. That is all except the one Japanese woman who of course has a soft spot for our round-eyed hero and promptly jumps in the sack with him. The sequence is so painfully obvious it made me laugh (it even fades from their naked bodies in the bedroom to a shot of the clouds over Japan. Sweet Jesus!!)For my part the one redeeming thing was to see some shots of Japan from 30 years ago......oh and there's a very funny sequence where a man in a wheel-chair flies out the back of a van and over the side of a bridge which made me laugh until orange juice came down my nose. And there's a really funny bit with a beheading which is pure Monty Python. Oh wait ..... and the bit with Scott Glenn fighting off a man with a sword using a stapler (no I'm not joking). Hmmm now I think about it there are some unintentionally funny bits that could make an amusing 2 minute montage on YouTube......but other than that avoid this film.

merklekranz Scott Glenn is an American boxer, recruited into a Japanese feud over ancient swords. Initially he tries playing the feuding brothers for financial gain, similar to Clint Eastwood in "A Fistful of Dollars". Soon however the movie morphs into a martial arts training film like "Enter the Dragon". The climax is a free for all sword fight, with Glenn taking on the evil brother, and taking quite an impressive beating to boot. There are a few chuckles, especially relating to Glenn's attempt to understand Japanese culture. Head lopping and torso slicing aside, the story is pretty good, the acting by Scott Glenn and Toshiro Mifune competent, and the entertainment value delivered. Can't ask for more than that. Recommended of it's type. - MERK

garyb513 Not the greatest film ever, but certainly entertaining. I liked Scott Glenn in the role. This is one of those films that the hero has far less than perfect character. Glenn's character is so cynical that he cannot see the dignity and character of Mifune's character right away. His character is not the only one who did not get the Japanese warrior code Bushido. A large part of the movie is about cultural differences.Probably the battle scene at the end made a lot of people lower the score. It was very over the top, and Glenn's character survives by using unconventional tactics. To me, the scene is the the big payoff in the movie.

Terence Allen The Challenge is one of those genre movies that is so good that it not only breaks the genre mold but gets lost in the shuffle, hidden by lots of other movies not nearly as good.Scott Glenn and Toshiro Mifune give excellent and their usual intense performances as a budding samurai cum boxer and his instructor, bonding as the instructor is caught up in a clan feud with his brother.This movie is good for three reasons. One reason is the normal steadfast performances of its stars. The second is the keen, insightful direction of John Frankenheimer, a grossly underrated director who helmed such classics as The Train, Ronin, and The Manchurian Candidate. And the third is the able kenjutsu (swordfighting)and aikido of a then unknown American martial arts instructor based in Japan who at the time was going by Steve Seagal. I guess I don't have to tell you who he grew up to be.