Visitors Review

reefer420 (2012-05-24 06:02)

An entertaining low-budget action movie

I think it's safe to say the director of Arena is a fan of the Starzshow "Spartacus". This film follows a very similar formula to thosestories: Take it to the Extreme. Extreme blood. Extreme nudity. Extremesituations. Most American men will be pleased.The film opens with a hokey-looking gladiator fight being viewed byvarious people around the world. We learn that "Death Games" is anillegal online program that features real fights to the death. It's ahit with college kids and Japanese office workers around the globe. TheFBI, Interpol, and everyone else are unable to locate them and shut itdown.Our hero, David Lord (Kellen Lutz), is in a car crash with his pregnantwife, who dies. David finds himself seduced by a hot British lady,played by Katia Winter, who will no doubt find herself on the "watchlist" of many young men, as she is gorgeous,a good actress,andapparently very willing to do full-frontal nudity. If nothing else, Ithink she gives the perfect audition for the actual "Spartacus" show.Samuel L. Jackson plays the "ringleader" of the online fightingbusiness. He is delightfully over-the-top, although it is difficult toget the question of "why is he in this movie?" out of your head.Clearly he owed the director a favor or something.Amazingly, he probably gives the WORST performance of the film. Themain character, the chick, and the assorted bad guys are all prettydecent, but Sam feels a bit wooden, even when he's shouting and dancingaround. I agree with another reviewer who theorized that perhaps thedirector was a bit intimidated when directing the great Samuel L.Jackson. Still, I will give him tremendous props for agreeing to dothis movie. Nothing wrong with helping people out, and he is actuallyIN the movie, unlike many "celebrity cameo" parts in modern films wherethe big name only appears in one or two scenes.The fight scenes are a mixed bag. They are pretty bloody, but the greatfight choreography of "Spartacus" is missing. They also have anannoying "Vignette" effect on all the fights that darkens the cornersof the frame...I found it distracting. There are things that work,though. The first fight looks a little odd, but then you realize thateven "in the movie" they are meant to look a little odd, since they arefilmed in a green screen room and then given fake backgrounds. This ispart of the plot, as the fight locations change each time. One fightmight be in a "gladiator" style with swords and armor, another in a"world war I" style with trenches and bayonets. That was very cleverand well done.One thing the film does well is a bit of "fourth wall" humor.References to other movies and TV shows, including a direct referenceto "Spartacus", as well as a hilarious "Office Space" moment with atwist, really help remind the viewer that this movie is ultimatelymeant to be fun.The main character, Kellen Lutz, was a surprise. I'd never heard of theguy, but he was pretty good. You don't hate him for being a "prettyboy" since he gets himself pretty bloodied and messed up. He definitelyseems to be channeling the late, great Andy Whitfield from "Spartacus"with his cold stares and angry, slow-motion screaming; he even kind oflooks like Andy.As I mentioned earlier, Katia Winter stole the show with her FemmeFatale character. Despite the fact that after her third nude scene evenI was questioning exactly WHY she needed to be in the buff so much, Ienjoyed the hell out of her performance, even when clothed! She has theperfect "evil Bond girl that turns good" attitude, and I predict we'llbe seeing a lot more of her in the future.The director, Jonah Loop, is a veteran special effects producer on manybig movies. Despite the low-budget, it's evident there is talent behindthe camera. The movie is very well shot and edited, to the point whereyou actually forget the "low-budge" origins at times. It's really onlythe fight scenes that look a little hokey. I'd say the guy did a greatjob with what he had, and I certainly will check out his futureefforts.If you are a fan of shows like "Spartacus" or movies like "Gamer", thisis one you should check out. If nothing else, I guarantee you will notbe bored.

jackarute (2012-05-23 16:23)

Solid Action Flic

There is little original in the story line. Picture Death Race or Gamerwith the protagonist fighting to the death every week instead of racinga car or in a fps mock up with real people. Furthermore, if any of thesocial commentary on where our society is headed based on the viewer'sever growing appetite for realism and violence is meant to be novel, itbarely registers with this viewer. However, adding Samuel Jackson asthe puppet master for these spectacles certainly makes even a retreadseem re-energized.   Kellan Lutz gives a solid enough performance asthe sympathetic protagonist finding himself in the do or die scenarioand Johnny Messner is a more than adequate secondary villain. Mixedwith some eye candy and an arc (with a nice twist) that createssufficient  anticipation as to how it's all going to end results in anabove average viewing experience. 

richardsandson (2012-05-21 23:07)

Utter trash

I am a fan of the 80's martial art movie, anything with a conspiracyand a bit of violence is usually right up my street. Now you know a bitabout where im coming from you'll appreciate me telling you that,.."This film was the cheesiest load of boolacks i've ever had themisfortune to watch. It was right up there with the very worst ofthem." As for samuel, how did he keep a straight face making this? Macewindu one minute, cheesy mMcCheeserson the next. This guy has made somemonstrous movies in the past, to be honest some of the best. When i sawhis name on a poster i wanted to see the movie because he was thatgood.To sumerise, don't bother

toudi (2012-05-21 11:13)

Grade B movie with Samuel L. Jackson!

It is so sad when a great actor ends up in grade B movie. But even ifit happened to Cuba Gooding Jr. I have never imagined that Samuel L.Jackson could fall so low. Although he never seemed very picky if youremember "Deep Blue Sea" or "Home of the Brave" but he was alwayssuccessful in choosing movies of at least moderate quality. And to behonest his flicks always get better ratings than they should which isnot surprising, he is one of the most likable and charismatic actors inHollywood. I always wonder can the actors predict how awful a movie isgoing to be before signing up for it. The answer more and more oftenseems to be they can't. The first question an actor should ask theproducer is how high is the budget then they should really carefullyread the script. The choice between acting in one good movie every twoyears or in three mediocre ones a year should be obvious. But it's not!Arena's budget surprisingly isn't that bad what it lacks most of allwas a good screenplay! And it's the combination of first time directorand inexperienced first time writers that made it a grade B movie.

Wizard-8 (2012-05-19 18:40)

Familiar story given familiar treatment

My first thought upon seeing this movie at my local video store waswondering why Samuel L. Jackson was appearing in a direct-to-DVD movie- did he have some gambling debts he had to pay off quickly? Anyway,Jackson gives the movie a little spark, though he does seem to beacting in his sleep. But he's not one of the main problems of themovie.For starters, the main plot elements and plot turns are VERY familiar.We have a hero who has lost a wife and is a drunk... who is seenfighting in a bar by people working for the main bad guy... who issubsequently kidnapped... who is forced to fight to the death withmultiple opponents, in fights that are sent around the world to peopleon the Internet. We have seen all this MANY times before, except maybefor a minor plot twist towards the end.The movie might have been saved by exciting fights and professionaltreatment, but the movie is lacking in those areas as well. Althoughthere is some bone crunching and blood spilling in the fights, most ofthe fights are surprisingly lacking impact. There's bad use of slowmotion, stuff happens out of camera range, and many times we just see afew seconds of a fight. The movie also looks surprisingly ugly, withunattractive colors or lighting throughout.I will admit that this movie is far from the worst direct-to-DVD moviethat's been made. But there's not enough positive stuff in it to makeit worth a rental.

Cinema_Love (2012-05-19 08:28)

Why Samuel Why ??

Maybe i had high expectations but then, this is the kind of movie wehave seen like a hundred times in the past years... A guy blond-hairedmuscular (Twilight's Kellan Lutz) sees his girlfriend killed in anaccident, and she was pregnant.... then he goes on drinking alcohol thenext minute, in Mexico... meet a women, that women goes naked and hegot kidnapped because it was a trapt... the next minute, he's somewherein a video game called ''Death Games'' (Original title wow), that is onthe internet. So people pay to bet who will win the fights. Samuel L.Jackson is the director of all of this, and our hero, Lutz, will tellhim he will kill him at the very end. Samuel laugh, ha-ha. Then, Lutzgoes on fight like 8 people before he gets to the executionner, the guythat killed people that are KOed. It's basic formula, it's poor acting,bad special effects and horrible fight sequences... if at least we getsgood fights but we're not. At the very beginning, there's a fight wecan see it's all fake. I thought it was a joke, when someone hitanother with a punch and you can see at least 2 feet of nothing betweenthem, it deserve a good ole' WOW !!!! It's bad and thanks god it didnot receive a Theatrical Release.

snivellinggit (2012-05-18 23:27)

Retardedly awful

The movie was merely okay for the first 20 minutes or so. Totallypredictable and cliché, but watchable. At the point the the maincharacter, who's only claim to fame is being a marine widower kills thekendo master in a katana duel, the movie just got moronic. From theevil villainess's change of heart that would rival the idiocy of theBaroness falling for Duke, to the terrible montage glossing over themore interesting looking fight scenes, the movie robs the viewer of anyentertainment, despite the pornographic violence and the T&A.Sam Jackson knocks it out the park with his contemptuous performance.It's clearly a mailed in effort, which is all this movie deserves.

davidfurlotte (2012-05-18 13:18)

The new porn - Violence, Gore and Blood

This movie is basically a Hollywood version of a snuff film. There isno real plot other than something that's been used as a sub-plot intelevision and in other B class movies.Simple formula.Kidnap people who have some talent to fight.Convince them to fight to the death.Put on shows for the masses and make big money.Okay, first tiny little problem is this: Where is the money? OBVIOUSLYthis is a SUBSCRIPTION based online revenue but it is CHEAP enough forsome College kids to afford? RIGHT...Then we have the second fight for our main hero, David Lord. He issupposed to kill his opponent in less than 3 minutes or the wife of hisfriend dies. Guess who his opponent is?....Yep, you guessed it, hisfriend.Now if you do the math, the ONLY way his friend would be inclined tofight is if HE were told that if he won, his wife and he would be setfree.SO, you have a man that has trained ALL HIS LIFE with weaponry inMartial Arts and he manages to get beaten? Okay, David Lord IS a Marinebut seriously, able to beat an opponent who has trained all his lifewith the Katana? I think not.I'm only halfway through viewing this but I already know how it's goingto end. Unless you're really into watching some senseless killing, giveit a pass. If the second half of this movie changes my mind, I'll beback to alert you that my original take on it was wrong. I'm big enoughto admit that.Well, I'm back and surprise, surprise, I was NOT wrong. To say it's acontrived ending leaving us open for a sequel is an understatement. Igo with my first warning to you. Give it a pass and a wide berth.

Saad Khan (2012-05-16 18:33)

gruesome lovers may actually quite enjoy it.

Arena – TRASH IT (C) Arena is a perfect example of how bad movies canbe made in Hollywood. Casting Samuel L Jackson and Kellan Lutz seemedlike a good cast for an action flick but when the production is C gradethe movie will turn out to be an outer trash too. Arena's story is justlike Hostel and The Tournament, where the kidnapped victims aretortured on the name of pleasure for public viewing. Samuel L Jacksonis doing many trashy movies lately. Kellan Lutz is all about physique,he still needs to improve a lot but defiantly he is good in kickingsome A**. Nina Dobrev was wasted in very small part. Kate Winter isexotic and kind of the only actor in the movie who acted good. Overall,Arena is time passer trash, though gruesome lovers may actually quiteenjoy it.

JoeytheBrit (2012-05-16 10:39)

Not Worth your Time...

I can't help thinking Samuel L. Jackson simply had his eye on the paycheque when he accepted a role in this dud. Can't blame him in one way- we all live in fear of the money drying up - but if he carries onappearing in rubbish like this he's going to one day find himselfplaying support to the likes of Lance Henrickson.The movie opens with hero Kellan Lutz playing American football.American movie makers like to equate the national sport with thegladiatorial combats of old (e.g Any Given Sunday) and this theme isplayed on throughout the film. After going off the rails following thedeath of his heavily pregnant wife, Lutz gets in a bar-room fight whichculminates in him being kidnapped and forced to fight to the death withother unlucky fighters for the betting pleasure of internet viewersaround the world (well, actually, it appears that an office worker inJapan and a bunch of party dudes in the States are the main viewers).The whole thing is operated by the aforementioned Mr. Jackson, who isessentially the modern day equivalent of those bacchanalian Romanemperors who lounged around on a sofa above the arena and let theirthumb hover horizontally for a few seconds before letting it rise orfall. Jackson even has a couple of nubile maidens at his beck and callas he samples a feast of grapes and wine.The plot is barely worthy of being described as such, following aboringly predictable path to an open-ended conclusion which suggeststhe producers are hoping for enough of a return to justify a sequel.The violence is bloody and graphic and ultra-stylised, and there'splenty of female nudity on display (our hero finds himself zappedsenseless by a naked Katia Winter, which is no doubt something that theadolescent target market fantasises about), but the characters are sopaper thin that you can't stop yourself from being bored.

David Nusair (2012-05-16 05:09)

An absolutely, astonishingly incompetent piece of work...

Matt Kracht (2012-05-15 18:27)

Stylistic, gratuitous exploitation

While I agree with the highly negative reviews already posted, I didn'tfind it *quite* as offensively bad as they did. Sure, the fightchoreography was poor, at times, but it wasn't nearly as bad asAmsterdam Heavy. The acting wasn't much better, but it was still aboutpar for the genre. I guess this is place where I'm supposed to expressincredulity over Sam Jackson appearing in this movie, but, really,everyone who watches lots of low budget, direct-to-video movies knowsthat he'll appear in anything. He's done some really mediocre (and evenbad) movies, in the past.Anyways, the main plot consists of a James Bond villain (Sam Jackson)kidnapping people and forcing them into fighting to the death. That'sit. Nothing else. No pretenses to art here. Now, if the fightchoreography and stunts were good, I might able to suggest this to fansof direct-to-video B movies inspired by Enter the Dragon andBloodsport. Unfortunately, they're really not very well done, with someof them looking downright crappy and unimpressive. Some others,however, end up looking pretty decent, though nowhere near Enter TheDragon or Bloodsport. The direction focuses on stylized, bloodyviolence, with fast cuts, slow motion, and lots of posing. If MichaelBay drives you nuts, I doubt you'll like this much, either.There's a rather surprising amount of gratuitous exploitation in thismovie. If you're prudish at all, I'd warn you to avoid it. There'sconstant, gory violence and occasional full frontal nudity (femaleonly), making this one of the most overt, unapologetic, and cynicalattempts at making a mainstream action movie that I've seen recently. Iguess they're saying that if the nudity doesn't get you off, theviolence will, like we're all a bunch over-stimulated sociopaths.There's a satirical element to all this gratuitous exploitation, but Ithink it was inserted merely to deflect criticism.If you're looking for exploitation, there's plenty of that. Otherwise,I'd say you're best off skipping it. The action scenes aren't goodenough. Some people have criticized this as being pornographic, and Ihave to agree; the violence seems to be almost fetishized. However,amoral as I am, I find the lack of plot and poor fight choreography tobe the true problems with this movie.

dooleyanthony (2012-05-13 20:16)

This is one to watch.....ARENA is AWESOME

This is one sick, awesome and brutal film. Enough to keep the gore fansand the Samuel Jackson fans happy. I give it 11 out of 10.It is actionall the way and has a few plot twists that make you go ooooooooh. I wasnot to sure what to expect from this film as I had not heard anythingabout it but I am glad I took the time to watch it (I urge you to dothe same). A life long Samuel Jackson fan I think I would have beenunhappy had I missed out on this film and the vast majority of Arena isnot about him. It has a feeling of Condemned meets Gladiator but its anew twist on it. I guess the only real way to judge a film is to watchit for yourself. Some of the fight scenes could have lasted longer, butwhere they lack in time they make up for in both gore and sheerbrutality.I HOPE YOU ENJOY WATCHING IT AS MUCH AS I DID.

Elijah Houchins (2012-05-13 07:56)

I over rated to compensate for the hate.

This film was pure art that most failed to recognize. If you haven'tseen the film yet, I encourage you to watch it before seeing the restmy review because realization will further enrich the film for yourather than me telling you this.The film showed sequences of people watching and making rude commentsat the gory fights which I took as a beautiful mirror that was supposedto show that you were doing the same thing. You may have related to thedisgusted girl or maybe you were more like the casually watchingbusinessman. Or maybe you didn't relate to anyone and the symbol fellon deaf ears. Irregardless, the stage design was great and the effectscomplimented it in how the bad guys used a green screen to generatetheir backdrops. The acting was great and there were few lines. I saythis as a positive since the lines used were poetic and thoughtprovoking(except the college students, although I liked how accurate itwas to reality). The use of silence was supposed to make you feeldisconnected, trapped.I have so much more good to say, but I don't want it to be toodisproportionate to the negative. The story was highly predictablesince I knew how it would end from the very beginning. The characterswere mostly flat, even the main one I would have trouble consideringround.Overall, a good film. I would consider it a guy movie, but that's mygender stereotyping kicking in. If you hate it, so be it. Don't call ita bad movie though, I've seen some pretty bad movies and this onedoesn't even come close to their level. Just don't go into it thinkingyou're about to see the best movie ever, because it has it's faults.Enjoy.

Simon Bubach (2012-05-11 23:12)

Not as bad as it seems.

Well, you've seen it all before, it's not a new concept but it's stillpretty interesting. I sat through the whole movie without any problemsat all. Sure, some things were pretty stupid like that an infamous massmurderer wouldn't have more security or that you cannot possiblysurvive the amount beating the main character receives.I liked the movie but unfortunately it was too average. The acting isnothing to complain about but the characters are pretty boring. SamuelL. Jackson gives us a typical villain and Kellan Lutz gives us theusual hero, nothing special on that front.I liked Daniel Dae Kim's character but he had a too small a role. Ithad every better if they had developed his character more then I wouldcare a lot more about the people who died. There are lots of people whodie but I did not think I really cared it was unfortunate and somethingthat they could have worked more with.This is by no means comparable to Hunger Games/BR, but give it a shotif you just want some pretty OK entertainment.

seth_21 (2012-05-11 04:03)

What were you expecting

I really don t understand what some of you were expecting from this .It s a movie with fights to the deaths that is rated R .Just from that i know there won t be much of a story and that thefights will be brutal .Based on what that movie is supposed to be , it get the job done .The fight scenes were more then entertaining enough ( the gore partwere way better then i was expecting too ) , the acting was like whatyou expect to see in most TV series ( which is more then good enoughfor those kind of movies )and ***** somewhat a spoiler****** i personally liked the turn of events near the end , make some senseout of the fight with the white samurai ( guess most people complainingabout that fight did nt saw the movie in full ) .If you know what you re getting into and don t expect you re brain tohave much of a workout it s defensively worth it .8/10 as a DVD rental

David Werwolf (2012-05-11 02:17)

Today's reality

This movie actually shows us, where the future of reality shows will be- - - Already today we have numerous reality shows, and people wantmore and more - - - - It shows how humanity didn't change - - - eventhou 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 fellowhuman - - - - The gore and is sickening, it means it is done good. Storyline ispredictable, but hey, this is not some kind of deep movie - - - - It isfor people that love this kind of gore movies - - - - It is brainlessmovie, and it is just a movie - - - Thou I am sure, they do organizethis 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 ofexceptional movie making, it is entertaining - - - - to a certain level- - - and it is done well - - - Fights are quite realistic, fightersactually get hurt - - - and it is not SO shallow as one might expect .. . .

phd_travel (2012-05-10 06:45)

Way too violent - what are the stars doing in this?

Watched this DVD because it has a good cast: Samuel L Jackson, KellanLutz and I am a fan of Nina Dobrev. Nina hardly acts a few minutes.Samuel - did you read the script? Kellan this is not the way to build acareer.People are captured and forced to fight to the death for onlineentertainment. This is a terrible movie. The violence is just sosickening. It's an example of how wrong action movies can get. Thestory is weak and you don't care for any of the characters. Therepeated violence is disgusting. I don't see how anyone could beentertained by it. Please don't watch this sickening movie. It shouldnever have been made.

phd_travel (2012-05-10 08:01)

Way too violent - what are the stars doing in this?

Watched this DVD because it had a good cast: Samuel L Jackson, KellanLutz and I am a fan of Nina Dobrev. Nina hardly acts a few minutes.Samuel - did you read the script? Kellan this is not the way to build acareer.People are captured and forced to fight to the death for onlineentertainment. This is a terrible movie. The violence is just sosickening. It's an example of how wrong action movies can get. Thestory is weak and you don't care for any of the characters. Therepeated violence is disgusting. I don't see how anyone could beentertained by it. Please don't watch this sickening movie. It shouldnever have been made.

uunio (2012-05-09 21:47)

Surprisingly Great

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