The Tournament - 2009 * * * * *

Only one will survive

This film hasn't really had that much critical acclaim to my knowledge. I cannot understand why as I was totally caught up in the plot and acting which was tremendous.

Robert Carlyle really stole the show for me in his role as the alcoholic priest who mistakenly gets caught up in the tournament.

The tournament is controlled by bookmaker Liam Cunningham who arranges his contacts to place bets on a small number of assassins who in turn fight each other until the death. When they die they are disqualified. Each assassin has a chip embedded in their stomach which tracks their movements which are transmitted back to the main tournament room where Cunningham and his contacts are watching their every movement on a large screen. Unknowingly Carlyle swallows one of these chips and is thrown headfirst into the tournament as an assassin.

The acting is superb and I think the ideal is totally original. Watch this if you want to be glued to the screen and blown away by some really astounding performances.