Arena

This movie actually shows us, where the future of reality shows will be - - - Already today we have numerous reality shows, and people want more and more - - - - It shows how humanity didn't change - - - even thou we are suppose to be civilized. But if you look around your self, you can see, that most people simply don't give a S%&/$ about fellow human - - - - The gore and is sickening, it means it is done good. Storyline is predictable, but hey, this is not some kind of deep movie - - - - It is for people that love this kind of gore movies - - - - It is brainless movie, and it is just a movie - - - Thou I am sure, they do organize this kind of fights in the underground - - - Roman gladiatorial fights just moved in to the basement, and sewers - - - I gave it 7/10 - - - cos, even thou it is not some-kind of exceptional movie making, it is entertaining - - - - to a certain level - - - and it is done well - - - Fights are quite realistic, fighters actually get hurt - - - and it is not SO shallow as one might expect . . . .

This film was pure art that most failed to recognize. If you haven't seen the film yet, I encourage you to watch it before seeing the rest my review because realization will further enrich the film for you rather than me telling you this. The film showed sequences of people watching and making rude comments at the gory fights which I took as a beautiful mirror that was supposed to show that you were doing the same thing. You may have related to the disgusted girl or maybe you were more like the casually watching businessman. Or maybe you didn't relate to anyone and the symbol fell on deaf ears. Irregardless, the stage design was great and the effects complimented it in how the bad guys used a green screen to generate their backdrops. The acting was great and there were few lines. I say this as a positive since the lines used were poetic and thought provoking(except the college students, although I liked how accurate it was to reality). The use of silence was supposed to make you feel disconnected, trapped. I have so much more good to say, but I don't want it to be too disproportionate to the negative. The story was highly predictable since I knew how it would end from the very beginning. The characters were mostly flat, even the main one I would have trouble considering round. Overall, a good film. I would consider it a guy movie, but that's my gender stereotyping kicking in. If you hate it, so be it. Don't call it a bad movie though, I've seen some pretty bad movies and this one doesn't even come close to their level. Just don't go into it thinking you're about to see the best movie ever, because it has it's faults. Enjoy.

"What's the one thing we all have in common?...Death." After a tragic accident leaves his wife dead, David (Lutz) is picked to take part in a "game". This game involves two men fighting to the death. When David agrees to do it in exchange for his freedom, the creator (Jackson) has other plans. My theory of movies lately are that there are no original ideas anymore. Recently it seems like it's either a remake, sequel, comic book or a rehash of a movie that has been done. Counting this movie, 13 and Freerunner there are now 4 movies released recently that steal from "Death Race". While I did see the others first it may have skewed my judgment but this was much slower then I was expecting. The plot is...take a guy with no family, force him to fight and kill for his freedom while the evil creator watches. Very predictable and is really only worth watching for the fighting and nudity. On the other hand, why else would you watch this anyway? Overall, not a bad movie, but the plot is starting to get old and over used. That makes it lose the excitement and impact. Because of un-originality I give it a B-. Would I watch again? - Not this one...but again I'm sure next month another version will come out. *Also try - Gamer & Death Race 1 & 2

Kellan Lutz was amazing in this and of course Mr. Jackson is always flawless. I really hope they can do a part 2 or somehow franchise on the film and keep the original characters and keep the story flowing. I'm typically not into fighting films, or anything of this nature but I'm a big fan of the Twilight cast so I've been watching their other films in between releases of Breaking Dawn and I stumbled across this one. It really surprised me! Not recommended for children of course. There is a ton of violence, I'd compare the gore to say, 300. The action is great and their is a surprising twist in the end. It really did take me by surprise. I hope you all get as good of a thrill from this as I did!

nice movie love it

I do like the concept of this film, the idea isn't exactly fresh but puts gladiator fights in new modern environment. The film starts out quite promising however the potential fades somewhat with the second fight and really drops during the middle part (fights from 3 to 7). During those scenes I felt like their only purpose was to add minutes to the film. I think 10 fights is way too much. 5 full fights each with good choreography and a few slow motion hits would do the trick I think. David's many wounds heal unrealistically quick. I also find the sudden change in David's personality really odd/unnatural, I guess some of it can be explained by the whole undercover operation. Still I get the feeling that he mixed a few of his priorities and that he even liked all the killing and sex (ok, I know, what's not to like about the second). I think he didn't express enough of the burden of taking (innocent) lives. I was surprised somewhat by the twist at the end, but I still cant figure out how did Samuel L. Jackson manage to escape from the building surrounded by police. Overall I think this movie is an average and nothing special really. I still had some fun watching it and Marcelle Baer really gave some spice to it. To unlock it's potential greatness however I'm afraid it would need a little more than just a few finishing touches.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning In a futuristic world where people watch and vote for on-line battles to the death, David Lord (Kellan Lutz) is an all star football player who has everything going for him until his beautiful girlfriend is killed in a car accident. With his reason for living gone, he finds himself drunk and desperate in a Mexican bar, where a chance encounter finds him thrust into the world of the online fighting, run by the sadistic Logan (Samuel L. Jackson.) As he fights for survival, Lord hatches a cunning plan to break free and bring down Logan's brutal empire. Samuel L. Jackson is certainly one of the more curious of the Hollywood A listers. A late starter on the scene, and certainly not one of the young and beautiful crowd now, his name on a poster can still pretty much guarantee a big box office opening weekend with the right publicity and appraisal. He possesses an undeniable charisma and style that still makes him distinctive as an actor and meant he was always destined to make it big one day. Yet, when artistic credibility is not at the top of his agenda, he seems an actor who's willing to sell himself out for an easy pay cheque on whichever piece of limited release/straight to DVD bunkem that comes along, of which category Arena falls into quite easily. Aiming for a Running Man style clever satire of the way television/online media is heading, Jonah Loop's utterly style over substance offering simply revels in it's own ridiculousness, becoming ever more over the top and far fetched as it goes along and seeming to compensate by way of a load of brutal, nonsensically over the top blood and gore delivered with a minimum of subtlety or taste. Jackson himself tries his best and tries to inject the hopeless corpse with some of his flair and delivery, but he really shouldn't have bothered. Lutz is little more than the average all brawn no charisma clowns Hollywood seems to pass off as actors these days, while the rest of the supporting cast just go through the motions as you can with this sort of thing. It would have been one thing if Arena had been a beautiful mess of a film. As it is, it's just quite a garish and unpleasant one. *

"What's the one thing we all have in common?...Death." After a tragic accident leaves his wife dead, David (Lutz) is picked to take part in a "game". This game involves two men fighting to the death. When David agrees to do it in exchange for his freedom, the creator (Jackson) has other plans. My theory of movies lately are that there are no original ideas anymore. Recently it seems like it's either a remake, sequel, comic book or a rehash of a movie that has been done. Counting this movie, 13 and Freerunner there are now 4 movies released recently that steal from "Death Race". While I did see the others first it may have skewed my judgment but this was much slower then I was expecting. The plot is...take a guy with no family, force him to fight and kill for his freedom while the evil creator watches. Very predictable and is really only worth watching for the fighting and nudity. On the other hand, why else would you watch this anyway? Overall, not a bad movie, but the plot is starting to get old and over used. That makes it lose the excitement and impact. Because of un-originality I give it a B-. Would I watch again? - Not this one...but again I'm sure next month another version will come out. *Also try - Gamer & Death Race 1 & 2

This movie actually shows us, where the future of reality shows will be - - - Already today we have numerous reality shows, and people want more and more - - - - It shows how humanity didn't change - - - even thou we are suppose to be civilized. But if you look around your self, you can see, that most people simply don't give a S%&/$ about fellow human - - - - The gore and is sickening, it means it is done good. Storyline is predictable, but hey, this is not some kind of deep movie - - - - It is for people that love this kind of gore movies - - - - It is brainless movie, and it is just a movie - - - Thou I am sure, they do organize this kind of fights in the underground - - - Roman gladiatorial fights just moved in to the basement, and sewers - - - I gave it 7/10 - - - cos, even thou it is not some-kind of exceptional movie making, it is entertaining - - - - to a certain level - - - and it is done well - - - Fights are quite realistic, fighters actually get hurt - - - and it is not SO shallow as one might expect . . . .

This film was pure art that most failed to recognize. If you haven't seen the film yet, I encourage you to watch it before seeing the rest my review because realization will further enrich the film for you rather than me telling you this. The film showed sequences of people watching and making rude comments at the gory fights which I took as a beautiful mirror that was supposed to show that you were doing the same thing. You may have related to the disgusted girl or maybe you were more like the casually watching businessman. Or maybe you didn't relate to anyone and the symbol fell on deaf ears. Irregardless, the stage design was great and the effects complimented it in how the bad guys used a green screen to generate their backdrops. The acting was great and there were few lines. I say this as a positive since the lines used were poetic and thought provoking(except the college students, although I liked how accurate it was to reality). The use of silence was supposed to make you feel disconnected, trapped. I have so much more good to say, but I don't want it to be too disproportionate to the negative. The story was highly predictable since I knew how it would end from the very beginning. The characters were mostly flat, even the main one I would have trouble considering round. Overall, a good film. I would consider it a guy movie, but that's my gender stereotyping kicking in. If you hate it, so be it. Don't call it a bad movie though, I've seen some pretty bad movies and this one doesn't even come close to their level. Just don't go into it thinking you're about to see the best movie ever, because it has it's faults. Enjoy.