Temmink: The Ultimate Fight (1998) User Reviews

Alarming, inspiring movie

[klaasjandevries · 7/10 · 15 September 2005]

I watched this movie a long time ago. From the first scene in the park I was grabbed by the alarmingly realistic way the violence was portrayed. A bit like the infamous fire-extinguisher scene in Irreversible...well maybe not thát harsh...well maybe it wás, I can't remember exactly.

I'd really like to see this movie again. I'm also quite curious to see how the movie makers view on 'television of the near future' was at that time and how close it is to our television-after-Big-Brother of today.

The relief felt at the end by one of the other commenters, I can share.

I'll just forget this film!

[raymond-15 · 5/10 · 30 October 1999]

A group of men selected for their fighting ability are confined to jail-like quarters and are regularly put on display in front of a live and television audience. Like fighting cocks they bash each other to pulp sometimes to death - no holds barred. I found this a very violent film with little entertainment value. Perhaps it is an indictment of our society that people should pay good money to watch such agonizing brutality. The actors with their bruised and bloodied faces, head-butting, neck-twisting, kicking and shouting did well in their restrictive roles, especially in the scene where one of the gladiators hurls himself through the plastic cage which imprisons him in the ring. He had been told that there was no escape from his fighting life apart from death in the ring or by lethal injection. It gave me a sense of relief to see him break free - perhaps to start a new life in the world outside.

best dutch movie

[jakethebiggestsnake · 9/10 · 4 February 2009]

Simply put if you are only going to watch one dutch movie it would be this one. I myself am not a fan of the dutch films at all, but my girlfriend (who hates dutch movies more then me) told me I had to watch this. And from the first scene I was fully into it.

It's got action (very well done and super violent), good acting, and some drama. The actual story is very simple but done in a great way.

In the future gladiators are back, and the main character is one of them. They enter the arena and they never get to leave (even if they die they stay there). The main character (temmink) starts to get feelings and wants to leave.

All I can say is watch it.

Bloodsport Dutch Style? No, much better!

[Pim-2 · 9/10 · 27 October 1998]

I have had the pleasure of seeing this beauty in the sneak preview. The movie depicts a future where people care even less about each other and life in general than they do know. The government's policy towards euthanasia and the public's demand for extreme fights result in a cage fight tournament in which sentenced criminals can choose to participate, brought to the public by a very commercial sports broadcast. The movie has got it all, action, humour and even the one ingredient no Dutch movie can't seem to do without: sex. Strangely this movie seems to have gone straight to video.

Where is the US remake?

[paaskynen · 27 April 2006]

This film is utterly un-Dutch and seems made for a US public, so I am surprised that (as far as I know) it hasn't been remade yet with some professional-wrestlers-aspiring-to-Hollywood-stardom in the cast.

The central theme as mentioned by other commentators is that in the future criminals convicted of manslaughter or murder can opt out of a lifelong prison sentence and into a special programme that will allow them to live in luxury as fêted gladiators who at regular intervals will fight to the death, with their bare knuckle fights broadcast to a wide fan base.

The central characters are: - The protagonist, a big man who cannot control his temper and his strength, but who otherwise is quite kind and lonely. - His friend the irreverent and wiry David, who is on a mission. - Goliath, the most feared gladiator, who seems unbeatable. - The master, some kind of sensei who rules over the gladiators and whose task is to make them accept death as the inevitable and desirable end.

It would be a shame to give away the subtleties of the plot, which lift the film above the average bash-brains-out level. Suffice to say that the fight scenes for which real cage fighters and strongmen were used are quite realistic and brutally violent, but that depicting the violence is not the goal of the film, which actually has a more positive message.

brilliant (especially for a dutch film)

[David-349 · 8/10 · 6 October 1999]

This is one of those movies you can watch from the beginning till the end, without being bored one single moment. The fights are quite realistic, and so are the dialogues. The language used in some dialogues might shock some people, but i liked it a lot. No negative aspects to tell about this movie. VOTE: 9