The Tournament is a dark visceral examination of how humans are obsessed with violence, power, and entertainment, against the background of a violent, high stakes assassin tournament. The very concept of the film, the elite assassins battling to keep themselves alive at the cost of $10 million and with police trailing them everywhere is a harsh critique of how much the society has become desensitized to killing and how the modern media is voyeuristic. The movie makers create a catchy and unrelenting mood, with both action scenes and moments of self-reflection, particularly by using the figure of Father MacAvoy, whose crisis of faith brings an emotional layer to the mess.
The best thing was the multilayered story of the film although the lethal game was more of a struggle to survive but also to show the world how the tournament organizers are very corrupt and manipulative. The plot twists especially the unveiling of the real motives of Lai Lai Zhen and the betrayal by Powers kept me attentive and prompting me to think over some issues of morality, guilt and redemption. The extreme action sequences are well directed, bloody but not with a point, the use of surveillance and the location in Middlesbrough give it a chilling effect of reality and modernity, highlighting how technology intensifies the spectacle and dominion over anarchy.
However, the most touching part was the depiction of how father MacAvoy went through despair to redemption. His alcoholism and religious experience are a reflection of the anarchy around him, but his strength and ethical enlightenment gives some light of hope in the nihilism. The Tournament is a very rough, provocative movie that raises the question of to what length society will go in the name of entertainment and has a long lasting impact of how violent it is and how it may be that the individual sacrifice may lead to salvation.
