Extreme Challenge Movie Poster

Extreme Challenge is a movie about a crazy internet show that pits the world’s best martial artists against each other with a series of challenges and fights.

The challenge starts off with a large range of people, but most importantly you’ve got four main players – The current Champion Ian Maxfield, a young woman named Tang Ning and two brothers who are class mates that trained together named Fang Jin and Kuang Kin.

Jin was chosen by his master to compete, while Kin was told he has a weakness – a lack of that competitive edge to win.  Kin sees past his (so called) ‘weakness’ and befriends Tang Ning and the two become very close.The current champ, Ian, starts off being very arrogant and showy, but proves to be a friendly guy.  He’s drive is to work hard and be the best he can be for his family, but now in his early 40’s he starts to think of what next for him.  Meanwhile Jin and Kin, who trained under the same kung fu master are butting heads a little.

Ultimately as competitors are eliminated the four must face off to enter the championship and win the $5,000,000 prize pool. Meanwhile a lot of personal issues and themes come to the surface.

A Movie About Competition

This may be a low budget, cheap looking film but it actually looks at a pretty interesting theme – competition.  Unlike most cheap movies, while they rely more on action there is a certain amount of personal development in each character as well as a look at why they’re competing.

You’ve got the champ – Ian.  Always winning and highly skilled, Ian is not at a point where every victory leaves him wondering when he will lose.  He understands the circle he’s in and is ready to settle down and become a champion father and husband.  The main reason he competes is simple – money to support his family.

But the other 3 main characters are a bit more interesting.

Tang Ning is competing with herself.  Being a woman she understands she isn’t as strong or fast as the male competitors, but competes to exceed expectation and prove to the world and herself that winning isn’t everything, as long as you keep improving.

Jin & Kin bounce their motivation off of each other. Jin wants to win, and says repeatedly “you compete in order to win” as has a very two dimensional mindset toward the competition – where as Kin competes to win and better himself.

Jin & Kin are against each other because Jin will win at any expense, where as Kin believes in caring for his competitors more than winning.  He ends up losing a match when a fellow competitor nearly stabs himself with a broken weapon, falling off the fighting platform in the process.

He explains  a previous experience from his childhood where he did “everything to win” and took another child’s eye out in a martial arts competition, proclaiming that he learned very quickly that “winning is not everything”, especially when someone is hurt badly.

Jin does get let back into the competition however, and the two continue to argue the point.

The Action & Martial Arts

This movie has some decent enough action in it with fast paced fight scenes that a little too quick and flashy and are short of a bit of substance – but still relatively entertaining.

There is an appearance by Scott Adkins who plays a competitor and he does a good job showing off his skill with Nunchaku, but it’s not really a highlight.

Scott Adkins in Extreme Challenge

Scott Adkins in Extreme Challenge

Ultimately this movie is very plain in just about all aspects – not being a bad movie but not being particularly good.  Check it out if you haven’t got another movie to watch instead.

On DVD –

Region 1 (US & Canada)
Extreme Challenge on DVD

More info on Movie Regions here.

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