The Quest is a 1996 film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Roger Moore, Janet Gunn, and James Remar. The film is Van Damme's directorial debut. The plot revolves around an international martial arts tournament, with a storyline similar to that of Bloodsport. It was originally penned by Frank Dux. It is a rework of a script Frank Dux wrote entitled "The Kumite", which ended Dux and Van Damme's friendship.

Plot summary

Christopher Dubois (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is a pickpocket living in 1925 New York. Orphaned as a child, Dubois looks after a large group of young orphans by performing cons and stealing. After stealing a large sum of money from a group of gangsters, Dubois and the children are found by the gangsters. Dubois is able to subdue the gangsters with his physical skill, but the struggle draws the attention of the police. After promising to return to the children, Dubois escapes the ensuing police by stowing away on a boat. He is eventually found out by the crew and imprisoned by gun smugglers and pirates and forced into physical labor. Eventually, the crew decides Dubois is no longer need. But before he can be killed, the pirate ship is attacked and boarded by a mercenary Englishman, Lord Edgar Dobbs (Roger Moore). After saving each others lives, Dobbs agrees to help Dubois return home, but deceives him and sells Dubois into slavery on an island near Siam, where Dubois is trained in Muay Thai fighting.