The Great Challenge (2006)

Very best movie i ever watch

Absolutely Brilliant!

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

This is a bad movie If I understand this correctly this is the sequel to a movie about "free runners", the same sort of thing that you saw in B-13, where people run and jump over and around buildings and objects with out a net and with a skill matched only by Spiderman. The first film (as was B-13) was made in connection with Luc Besson, here someone else picks up the rains and it shows. I have not seen the first film and after seeing this I don't know if I ever want to.The plot has a group of these free runners going to China and getting involved with the triads and the Japanese Mafia or some such nonsense. Mostly its an excuse to watch these young athletic guys and girls go running over roof tops and jumping from building to building with out visible means of support. This would be all fine and good if there was anything resembling a story to follow, but there's not. We get a fancy dress party being held in the court yard of a building, when there is a robbery from the upper floors. As the thieves leave through a window there is a sudden and completely out of place rain storm. There is no explanation of where the thieves went only that they landed on another building- somewhere. We then get the introduction of a good many characters all of which make no impression. We also get some action scenes that are filmed in such away that you're on top of each person giving you no sense of the danger or their location. When the final battle comes and the various sides decide to battle it out for no good reason as the police close, in we get a good many people going through obviously choreographed movements in a most embarrassing manner. Think poor French TV movie about martial arts.This is a martial arts turkey that needs to be actively avoided.

Being a fan of parkour I have to agree they did some pretty amazing stunts,but what it all added up to in the end was a kung-fu movie. I swear, this movie must have the worst plot in history.Everybody fighting everybody for no apparent reason,random action (they fight when they should run and run when they should fight) adding up to a lot of pointless action.It's all so drawn out I stopped watching by the last 20 minutes or so. Good if you're looking for some stunts out of the ordinary category of Hollywood crap,for rainy afternoons.Also be sure to watch the chick that doesn't change facial expressions the whole movie.Also there is no sex in this one, which is pretty amazing by action flick standards.

Now, I may have had my expectations too high because the file read Les Fils du Vent, Yamakasi 2. I liked Yamakasi, even if I don't usually watch sport movies. As sports go, Free Running is pretty cool and the story and acrobatics of Yamakasi were very nice.This movie lacks the story, the technical prowess and it's set in Bangkok, where just about everyone knows how to jump from buildings (in the movie, of course). To make the French athletes fight in the end and mix Free Running with martial arts seemed to me a very bad idea.I could have liked this movie, though, if it weren't for the end. It's a mindless brawl where no one has any purpose in what they do. To make things worse, after this scene that seemed to be the end comes another, which practically voids the one before.So if you are a movie lover or a Free Runner enthusiast, you will not be particularly pleased with this movie. And it has no other qualities.

Seri has triumphed here in a sweat ridden roller-coaster ride of a film. How refreshing to see a unadulterated action flick doesn't rely on the geekery of CGI, to make it's set pieces come to life, but instead depends wholly on the breath taking athletic talents and bravery of it's entire cast.I would explain the plot, but it would immediately expose a series of seemingly contrived plot devices in order to get the Yamikasi (the young troupe of French acrobatic building jumpers) to Bangkok, and into, well a whole heap load of trouble. But this film should not be analyzed in such a manner. Whilst puncturing your cornea with highly graded, much stylized Manga - esque images, Mr Seri has evidently immersed himself in Asian contemporary comic book and film culture, and the essence of marshal arts. Brief moments of spiritual enlightenment, racial tension and a love for one of the most exotically beautiful women to grace our screens in a long while (look out for Elodie Yung) puncture blistering scenes of fights a top bamboo scaffolded buildings, grim darkened steel warehouses, and a breath taking final denouement of ridiculous scale. Without a computer generated figure in sight. This is one for DVD replay buttons as mind boggling stunts are brushed aside with yet more bone crushing jumps, spins and kicks.I already read criticism for this film, but this is the mistaken critique of those watching it in the wrong context. This film should be held up alongside the likes of Akira, and the films of Jakie Chan. And this is where Mr Seri's success truly lies, for he is introducing an entire generation of young Europeans to this much stylized idiom. Suspension of reality for the younger generation, heroics and bravery of young people performing in this high octane circus. If you didn't like it, I suspect you were not the person this film was designed for.Bravo Monsieur Seri, Bravo!