O Grande Desafio

Roger Moore really made an effort to make this a blockbuster hit: an expensive shooting location in the Alps, his own son playing one of the leading roles (figuring, since his father is such a star, the son shouldn't be too bad either) and a whole soundtrack written by none other than Harold Faltermeyer and including a song by DEEP PURPLE! And for what? One really must wonder what made Moore put his reputation and money at risk for such a horrendous project. The acting here is on the lowest level possible and the good guys and the bad guys are so ridiculously clichéd that it looks like a cartoon. All one gets is some exciting alpine action, but even that isn't enough to make this movie worth watching.

I believe this was supposed to be just a money maker for Moore and in addition a chance to go skiing in one of the finest resorts in the world. Well, we forgive you Roger, but I can't help wanting to shoot the entire cast, especially that ANNOYING girl that plays your daughter. And why, oh WHY did she have to sing?!?!

WIlly Bogner is known for a lot of things and all of them skiing related.He's a former alpine skiier, he introduced stretch pants to the skiing world and he was the stunt cameraman for just about all the ski related movies out there.

So in 1990, the whole "extreme" sports world was just starting to get underway and he had the bright idea of making a movie involving lots of stunts including alpine skiing. The name he'd use for this was taken from his line of clothing called "Fire and Ice" and since there were explosions "dynamite" was added. Maybe this was meant as an homage to John D MacDonald's novel, "the Girl, the Gold Watch and Everything". Or maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part because this was nowhere near as good as that book or TV movie was.

The story is that Sir Roger Moore plays an aging aristocrat who owed money all around. But he dies and all his creditors and heirs show up wanting a piece of the action. However his $135 million fortune has been donated exclusively to some foundation and the only way to get it is to take part in the most extreme sports challenge of all time. So cue all the groups wanting to get his money, his heirs learning to live and work with each other, wacky hijinks and some pretty incredible stunts.

The stunts are really what sells this movie because they're all pretty cool. The story itself is utter garbage. And of course there's the elephant in the room which is the product placement. My God! The product placement alone in this movie is beyond even "Mac & Me" levels. We're talking Volkswagen, Club Med, Bayer, Chiquita Banana and loads of other ones are introduced as the groups competing for this money. One joke being the Chiquita Banana people only sending one guy because he just wants Sir Roger Moore to pay him for the bananas he bought.

There is no plot worth mentioning because you come here for the stunts and that's it.

I was looking for this movie for 13 years. Somehow I didn't remember all the brands showed in the film but I remembered some gags. Sometimes it's just silly and the acting is bad but the stunts are the best I've ever seen.

Despite the heavy placement product, If you look closely it's about corporate companies doing anything they can to win. In the climbing scene you can see one guy drilling the dam to climb up faster and win...

It's a low quality movie but it's a better movie compared with most today's blockbusters.

A Grand Tour of every known logo in Europe; from Pepsi Cola, through Perrelli Tyres, with Swatch thrown in. It's like the brakes they once had at the drive-in movies listing the items for sale at the concession stand, except in this case, the stand is the size of a continent.

Curiously, the stunt work is VERY GOOD! If they had a half decent script, and lost most of those annoying logos, this could have been a really fun movie.

So sad.

Firstly, I must admit that my rating is based on pure bias. I've been watching this film on habitual repeat since I was a kid and I never get tired of it.

The plot lacks severely, some of the humour fails to make its mark and we are "treated" to a rather terrible song performed by one of the actors mid-way. Oh and Roger Moore seemed to be just there for... well, I don't know why he was there. But forget all that. None of it's important.

Why, if it's so bad, do I keep watching it? Let's start with the soundtrack - an amazing selection of songs that you can only find on the incredibly rare OST. And then the stunts - a serious amount of awe for the talent of the stunt experts showing off their stuff. I will confess that some of the lame jokes still even rise a laugh from me - as do some of the antics of the teams in the race.

So - if you want a fun stunt film with great music, this is an enjoyable watch. Bear in mind that those giving it a low rating have very valid points, but if you have any appreciation for a mindless romp, here it is.