The Tournament (film)
Encyclopedia
The Tournament is a 2009
British
independent
action film
, marking the directorial debut of local filmmaker Scott Mann
. The film was conceived by Jonathan Frank and Nick Rowntree while at the University of Teesside
with Mann. The script was written by Gary Young
, Jonathan Frank, and Nick Rowntree.
The Tournament was partially filmed in Bulgaria
, and numerous locations around Northern England
(where the film is set) and Merseyside
. The film stars Robert Carlyle
, Ving Rhames
, Kelly Hu
, Sébastien Foucan
, Liam Cunningham, Scott Adkins
, Camilla Power
and Ian Somerhalder
. The film received additional funding internationally, from Sherezade Film Development, Storitel Production and others, earning the film a budget of just under £4,000,000, and the film also features a renowned international ensemble cast
.
However, numerous problems involving production, finance (the budget ran out twice), and securing a distributor, meant the film was not released until two years after filming, in late 2009.
"Contestants" volunteer, but due to the nature of the tournament are some of the toughest or craziest individuals on the planet – they are expected to kill, and only the last surviving combatant will win the cash prize of £10,000,000. The men and women running the tournament not only view it as entertainment, but also bet high stakes on the outcome.
For each tournament, combatants are selected from the world's special forces
, serial killer
s, athletes, trained contract killers and assassins. The last combatant standing receives not only the cash prize, but also the glory and reputation of having the title of World's Number 1, and which itself carries the legendary million-dollar-a-bullet contract killing price tag. Each of the contestants carry a tracking device, embedded under their skin, allowing the observers to monitor their movements, and the contestants to track each other. The tournament lasts twenty-four hours, and if no-one has won, then the tracking devices will explode.
The mayhem which takes place is passed off as natural disaster
s, terrorist outrages, accidents, or put down to rampages committed by lone madmen. The unsuspecting towns where the tournament takes place are randomly selected, and the public never know of its existence. This year, the latest tournament has come to Middlesbrough
, a city in the United Kingdom
– the country with the most prevalent mass surveillance
in the world – so that the events of the tournament can be easily followed and recorded through the ever-present CCTV as well as satellite surveillance. They also jam the communications of the emergency services, completely taking over the electronic infrastructure, and the stage is set. As an additional twist, tracking devices are implanted in each contestant, allowing the organisers and other competitors to monitor where they are at any point, the chips all programmed to explode at sunrise the following morning unless only one contestant is left at that point.
The current Tournament becomes complex due to the actions of the organisers and competitors; not only has Joshua Harlow – the winner of the last Tournament – being convinced to return after his wife was murdered and he as informed that the killer is in the Tournament, but another contestant manages to remove his tracking chip, dropping it in a cup of coffee just in time for Father James Macavoy, a priest struggling with alcoholism and a crisis of faith, to drink it. With his only ally assassin Lai Lai Zhen, seeking to escape the game after her last kill, Macavoy must race to survive before the timer runs down.
acquired UK rights to distribute The Tournament by first-time director Scott Mann
. Filming began in Bulgaria
on July 11, 2007. The Tournament was also filmed in the UK in Manchester and on Teesside
in the town of Middlesbrough
and the surrounding area, including Newton Aycliffe
and Billingham
the roof top scenes are filmed in the town St.Helens.
Like most independent movies, The Tournament has not been without hardship. Due to running out of money twice, once leaving the director stranded in Bulgaria, it eventually got enough funding to finish filming completely and finally complete post-production.
The film has been chosen to open the Screamfest Horror Film Festival
in the Mann's Chinese Theatre on October 16 2009.
As of 30 September 2009, the only website with information on The Tournament, is Mann Made, which holds a synopsis of the film, as well as a series of still images. There are also a MySpace page along with a Facebook group holding the same information. Trailers are available on YouTube.
composed the musical score, with additional music by George Acogny, John Hunter and James Edward Barker
.
The movie also contained music from: Ruth Jacott
, Fabian "R-CANE" Schlosser, Kevin Hissink and El Rod
does not yet have a score.
Staci Layne Wilson, of Horror.com, gave a positive review for the film, noting that the plot and script lacked originality and could be compared to films such as Smokin' Aces
and The Running Man
. She wrote: "[The Tournament] truly lives up to its "non-stop action" premise... ...the only other two recently-released movies I can think of to top it in that arena would be the Crank
films and the absolutely awesome Shoot 'Em Up
."
2009 in film
The year 2009 saw the release of many films. Seven made the top 50 list of highest-grossing films, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that as of this year, their Best Picture category would consist of ten nominees, rather than five .- Highest-grossing films :Please note...
British
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
independent
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
action film
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
, marking the directorial debut of local filmmaker Scott Mann
Scott Mann
Scott Mann is a British film director who made his name with his action packed debut feature film The Tournament, which was an $8m movie shot in the UK and Bulgaria. The film starred Robert Carlyle and Ving Rhames and Ian Sommerhalder...
. The film was conceived by Jonathan Frank and Nick Rowntree while at the University of Teesside
University of Teesside
Teesside University is a university in Middlesbrough, England. It has a student body of 29,285 students as of the 2009/10 academic year. It recorded rises in applications of 25.1 per cent and 23.5 per cent for degree courses beginning in 2010, the highest such percentage increases of the five...
with Mann. The script was written by Gary Young
Gary Young (screenwriter)
Gary Young is a UK screenwriter who is probably best known for writing Harry Brown starring Michael Caine.He has also written Madam Samurai a graphic novel series with Eagle Award-winning artist David Hitchcock.-Films:Films include:...
, Jonathan Frank, and Nick Rowntree.
The Tournament was partially filmed in Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, and numerous locations around Northern England
Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North or the North Country, is a cultural region of England. It is not an official government region, but rather an informal amalgamation of counties. The southern extent of the region is roughly the River Trent, while the North is bordered...
(where the film is set) and Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
. The film stars Robert Carlyle
Robert Carlyle
Robert Carlyle, OBE is a Scottish film and television actor. He is known for a variety of roles including those in Trainspotting, Hamish Macbeth, The Full Monty, The World Is Not Enough, Angela's Ashes, The 51st State, and 28 Weeks Later...
, Ving Rhames
Ving Rhames
Irving Rameses "Ving" Rhames is an American actor best known for his work in Bringing Out the Dead, Pulp Fiction, Baby Boy, Don King: Only in America, and the Mission: Impossible film series.-Early life and education:...
, Kelly Hu
Kelly Hu
Kelly Ann Hu is an American actress and former fashion model. She was Miss Teen USA 1985 and Miss Hawaii USA 1993.-Early life:Hu was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the daughter of Juanita, an engineering drafter for Honolulu, and Herbert Hu, a salesman and exotic bird breeder; the two divorced during...
, Sébastien Foucan
Sebastien Foucan
Sébastien Foucan is a French actor of Guadeloupean descent. Along with David Belle he is considered one of the founders of parkour and is the creator of free running. He is known as a representative of, and ambassador for parkour and free running to many countries...
, Liam Cunningham, Scott Adkins
Scott Adkins
Scott Adkins is an English actor and martial artist who is perhaps best known for playing Yuri Boyka in Undisputed II: Last Man Standing and Undisputed III: Redemption and Bradley Hume in Holby City and Ed Russell in Mile High...
, Camilla Power
Camilla Power
Camilla Power is an Irish-born English actress who is most notably remembered in her role as Jill Pole in BBC's TV adaptation of the book The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis...
and Ian Somerhalder
Ian Somerhalder
Ian Joseph Somerhalder is an American model, actor and producer, best known for playing Boone Carlyle in the TV drama Lost and Damon Salvatore in the TV drama The Vampire Diaries.-Early life:...
. The film received additional funding internationally, from Sherezade Film Development, Storitel Production and others, earning the film a budget of just under £4,000,000, and the film also features a renowned international ensemble cast
Ensemble cast
An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...
.
However, numerous problems involving production, finance (the budget ran out twice), and securing a distributor, meant the film was not released until two years after filming, in late 2009.
Premise
A group of the world's wealthiest and most powerful men, who are themselves tied into law enforcement agencies and criminal underworlds alike, and who also control the international media with their billions, have devised the ultimate entertainment for themselves – simply referred to as "The Tournament" – which takes place at intervals of every seven or ten years."Contestants" volunteer, but due to the nature of the tournament are some of the toughest or craziest individuals on the planet – they are expected to kill, and only the last surviving combatant will win the cash prize of £10,000,000. The men and women running the tournament not only view it as entertainment, but also bet high stakes on the outcome.
For each tournament, combatants are selected from the world's special forces
Special forces
Special forces, or special operations forces are terms used to describe elite military tactical teams trained to perform high-risk dangerous missions that conventional units cannot perform...
, serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
s, athletes, trained contract killers and assassins. The last combatant standing receives not only the cash prize, but also the glory and reputation of having the title of World's Number 1, and which itself carries the legendary million-dollar-a-bullet contract killing price tag. Each of the contestants carry a tracking device, embedded under their skin, allowing the observers to monitor their movements, and the contestants to track each other. The tournament lasts twenty-four hours, and if no-one has won, then the tracking devices will explode.
The mayhem which takes place is passed off as natural disaster
Natural disaster
A natural disaster is the effect of a natural hazard . It leads to financial, environmental or human losses...
s, terrorist outrages, accidents, or put down to rampages committed by lone madmen. The unsuspecting towns where the tournament takes place are randomly selected, and the public never know of its existence. This year, the latest tournament has come to Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire...
, a city in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
– the country with the most prevalent mass surveillance
Mass surveillance
Mass surveillance is the pervasive surveillance of an entire population, or a substantial fraction thereof.Modern governments today commonly perform mass surveillance of their citizens, explaining that they believe that it is necessary to protect them from dangerous groups such as terrorists,...
in the world – so that the events of the tournament can be easily followed and recorded through the ever-present CCTV as well as satellite surveillance. They also jam the communications of the emergency services, completely taking over the electronic infrastructure, and the stage is set. As an additional twist, tracking devices are implanted in each contestant, allowing the organisers and other competitors to monitor where they are at any point, the chips all programmed to explode at sunrise the following morning unless only one contestant is left at that point.
The current Tournament becomes complex due to the actions of the organisers and competitors; not only has Joshua Harlow – the winner of the last Tournament – being convinced to return after his wife was murdered and he as informed that the killer is in the Tournament, but another contestant manages to remove his tracking chip, dropping it in a cup of coffee just in time for Father James Macavoy, a priest struggling with alcoholism and a crisis of faith, to drink it. With his only ally assassin Lai Lai Zhen, seeking to escape the game after her last kill, Macavoy must race to survive before the timer runs down.
Cast
- Robert CarlyleRobert CarlyleRobert Carlyle, OBE is a Scottish film and television actor. He is known for a variety of roles including those in Trainspotting, Hamish Macbeth, The Full Monty, The World Is Not Enough, Angela's Ashes, The 51st State, and 28 Weeks Later...
as Father Joseph Macavoy - Kelly HuKelly HuKelly Ann Hu is an American actress and former fashion model. She was Miss Teen USA 1985 and Miss Hawaii USA 1993.-Early life:Hu was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the daughter of Juanita, an engineering drafter for Honolulu, and Herbert Hu, a salesman and exotic bird breeder; the two divorced during...
as Lai Lai Zhen - Ving RhamesVing RhamesIrving Rameses "Ving" Rhames is an American actor best known for his work in Bringing Out the Dead, Pulp Fiction, Baby Boy, Don King: Only in America, and the Mission: Impossible film series.-Early life and education:...
as Joshua Harlow - Liam Cunningham as Mr. Powers
- Sébastien FoucanSebastien FoucanSébastien Foucan is a French actor of Guadeloupean descent. Along with David Belle he is considered one of the founders of parkour and is the creator of free running. He is known as a representative of, and ambassador for parkour and free running to many countries...
as Anton Bogart - Scott AdkinsScott AdkinsScott Adkins is an English actor and martial artist who is perhaps best known for playing Yuri Boyka in Undisputed II: Last Man Standing and Undisputed III: Redemption and Bradley Hume in Holby City and Ed Russell in Mile High...
as Yuri Petrov - Ian SomerhalderIan SomerhalderIan Joseph Somerhalder is an American model, actor and producer, best known for playing Boone Carlyle in the TV drama Lost and Damon Salvatore in the TV drama The Vampire Diaries.-Early life:...
as Miles Slade - Andy NymanAndy NymanAndy Nyman is an English actor and magician.Nyman first came to note with his performance as a hard nosed director in Musical! and then as Keith Whitehead in the cult film of the Martin Amis novel, Dead Babies...
as Tech Eddie - Iddo GoldbergIddo GoldbergIddo Goldberg is an English-Israeli actor.Goldberg was born in Haifa, Israel. He has had several notable roles, including playing Ben on the television show Secret Diary of a Call Girl. He also appeared in the 2008 war film Defiance, starring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber.-Actor:-External links:...
as Tech Rob - Craig ConwayCraig Conway (actor)Craig Conway is a British actor. Conway has appeared in a number of stage plays and British television series in addition to his film work.Conway is the husband of actress Jill Halfpenny, with whom he has a son.-Filmography:...
as Steve Tomko - John LynchJohn Lynch (actor)John Lynch is an Irish actor from Northern Ireland.-Biography:John Lynch was born in the United Kingdom and moved to his father's native home in Corrinshego, County Armagh, near Newry, County Down in Northern Ireland as a child. He attended St Colman's College, Newry, a Catholic school...
as Gene Walker - J.J. PerryJ.J. PerryJordan Andrew Perry , better known as J.J. Perry, is an American martial artist, actor, and stuntman.-Career:Perry began practicing martial arts training in 1975, at the age of eight. Because his mother was not able to afford her son's lessons, he cleaned a martial arts school, and received...
as Montoya - Camilla PowerCamilla PowerCamilla Power is an Irish-born English actress who is most notably remembered in her role as Jill Pole in BBC's TV adaptation of the book The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis...
as Sarah Hunter - Nick Rowntree as Eddy Cusack
- Rachel GrantRachel GrantRachel Louise Grant de Longueuil, more commonly known as Rachel Grant, is an actress and model. Besides her acting career, she is a martial arts instructor, specializing in the Filipino martial arts Kali...
as Lina Sophia - Bashar RahalBashar RahalBashar Mounzer Rahal is a Bulgarian actor well known for his role in the TV show "It Can't Be" equivalent of "'Saturday Night Live'"...
as Asaf - Dustin Ingle as Bill Gaytes
- Eric Macharia as African Drug lord
Production
In July 2007, Entertainment Film DistributorsEntertainment Film Distributors
Entertainment Film Distributors is a British distributor of independent films in the UK and Ireland for various production companies; it is owned by Nigel Green who started the company in 1978. Their first big success was the successful horror Terror made by cult filmmaker Norman J...
acquired UK rights to distribute The Tournament by first-time director Scott Mann
Scott Mann
Scott Mann is a British film director who made his name with his action packed debut feature film The Tournament, which was an $8m movie shot in the UK and Bulgaria. The film starred Robert Carlyle and Ving Rhames and Ian Sommerhalder...
. Filming began in Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
on July 11, 2007. The Tournament was also filmed in the UK in Manchester and on Teesside
Teesside
Teesside is the name given to the conurbation in the north east of England made up of the towns of Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Redcar, Billingham and surrounding settlements near the River Tees. It was also the name of a local government district between 1968 and 1974—the County Borough of...
in the town of Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire...
and the surrounding area, including Newton Aycliffe
Newton Aycliffe
Newton Aycliffe is a town in County Durham, England. Founded in 1947 under the New Towns Act of 1946, it is the oldest new town in the north of England.-Geography:...
and Billingham
Billingham
Billingham is a town in the unitary authority of Stockton on Tees, in north east England, with a population of 35,765 . It was founded circa 650 by a group of Saxons known as Billa's people, which is where the name Billingham is thought to have originated...
the roof top scenes are filmed in the town St.Helens.
Like most independent movies, The Tournament has not been without hardship. Due to running out of money twice, once leaving the director stranded in Bulgaria, it eventually got enough funding to finish filming completely and finally complete post-production.
The film has been chosen to open the Screamfest Horror Film Festival
Screamfest Horror Film Festival
Screamfest Horror Film Festival is the largest horror film festival in the United States. Some of the largest horror online publications have called it the "Sundance of Horror". Previously held at Loews Universal Studios Cinemas, Universal CityWalk, the festival is now held annually at the...
in the Mann's Chinese Theatre on October 16 2009.
As of 30 September 2009, the only website with information on The Tournament, is Mann Made, which holds a synopsis of the film, as well as a series of still images. There are also a MySpace page along with a Facebook group holding the same information. Trailers are available on YouTube.
Soundtrack
Laura KarpmanLaura Karpman
Laura Karpman is an American composer, whose work has included scoring for film, television, video games, theater, and concert. She has won four Emmy Awards for her work...
composed the musical score, with additional music by George Acogny, John Hunter and James Edward Barker
James Edward Barker
James Edward Barker is a British composer, music producer and film producer. Many of his music works include the hybrid mixture of sonic experimentation with grandiose classical motifs.-Biography:...
.
The movie also contained music from: Ruth Jacott
Ruth Jacott
Ruth Jacott is a Dutch singer, originally from Suriname.Jacott transitioned from musical theatre to popular music in 1993, when she represented the Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest 1993. Her song, "Vrede" , was one of the favorites to win, and ended up ranking sixth out of 25 at Millstreet...
, Fabian "R-CANE" Schlosser, Kevin Hissink and El Rod
El Rod
Roger "El Rod" Saro is a half Surinamese, half Native American singer, vocalist and songwriter whose diverse style incorporates elements of funk, pop, indie pop, electro and hip-hop. In addition to singing lead and backing vocals, El Rod also raps and sometimes arranges the songs he wrote and...
Critical reception
Due to the fact the film was only picked up for distribution in late 2009, there are as yet few reviews of the film. Ratings aggregate site Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
does not yet have a score.
Staci Layne Wilson, of Horror.com, gave a positive review for the film, noting that the plot and script lacked originality and could be compared to films such as Smokin' Aces
Smokin' Aces
Smokin' Aces is a 2006 crime film, written and directed by Joe Carnahan. It stars Jeremy Piven as a Las Vegas magician turned mafia informant and Ryan Reynolds as the FBI agent assigned to protect him...
and The Running Man
The Running Man (film)
The Running Man is a 1987 American action film loosely based on Stephen King's 1982 novel of the same name. Directed by Paul Michael Glaser, the film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, María Conchita Alonso, Jesse Ventura, Jim Brown, and Richard Dawson....
. She wrote: "[The Tournament] truly lives up to its "non-stop action" premise... ...the only other two recently-released movies I can think of to top it in that arena would be the Crank
Crank (film)
Crank is a 2006 American comedy movie, written and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, and starring Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Efren Ramirez, and Dwight Yoakam...
films and the absolutely awesome Shoot 'Em Up
Shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...
."
External links
- The Tournament at MannMadeFilms
- R-CANE at R-CANE
- www.killerfilm.com Interview: Scott Mann