The Challenge

Directed by John Frankenheimer (THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE), written by John Sayles (MATEWAN; EIGHT MEN OUT), and starring Toshiro Mifune (RASHOMON; THE SEVEN SAMURAI) and Scott Glenn (THE RIGHT STUFF; URBAN COWBOY), this East-meets-West actioner has an impressive pedigree but never delivers on its promise. American boxer Glenn accidentally becomes involved in a dispute between two Japanese brothers, Mifune and Atsuo Nakamura over the possession of family swords. Unfortunately, the script is mired in trite observations on the death of the samurai tradition and the rise of capitalist gangsters in Japan. Though the film has enough interesting moments to make it worth a...