Arena
Tags: murder, violence, suicidal, flashback, brainwashing, plot twist

Plot synopsis:
The Deathgames is a popular, controversial, and illegal web-show featuring a modern day gladiator arena where combatants fight to the death for the entertainment of online viewers, including a group of college students, and a group of Japanese office workers. Government authorities have been searching to shut down the operation, but to no avail. David Lord (Lutz), a fireman and paramedic gets into a terrible car accident with his pregnant wife, Lori (Nina Dobrev), who does not survive the crash. Grief-stricken, David considers suicide, but decides against it. Later he drowns his sorrows at a local bar, while a mysterious woman, Milla, watches him from afar. After witnessing him easily subdue the bar's bouncer, Milla seduces David before incapacitating him and allowing him to be kidnapped.Milla, it turns out, is a recruiter for The Deathgames, which is run by the confident Logan (Jackson) and his two sexy assistants Kaneko (Irene Choi) and Kawaii (Lauren Shiohama). Kaden (Messner), the executioner is doubtful of the fighting ability of a mere "doctor." David is locked in a small cell and befriends a fellow fighter in the cell next to his, Taiga (Kim), who tells him that he was coerced into participating due to a threat on his wife's life. David reluctantly wins his first fight, and Milla becomes more invested in his success (as she gets paid when he wins). Logan tells David that he will set him free if he wins ten fights in a row.In order to persuade David to fight again, Kaden reveals that Taiga's wife is in their hands and will be killed if he fails to win his next fight. After David wins, it is revealed that his opponent was Taiga, who was given the same task for his wife. Remorsefully, David kills Taiga, but not before incurring serious wounds of his own. It is then, that David officially accepts Logan's offer, on one the condition: the tenth and final opponent must be Kaden himself.
Milla begins to feel bad for David after seeing how badly he is hurt and personally attends to his wounds. She becomes closer to him as he fights his next few fights and has him moved to a more comfortable room with more space and a bed. She brings him food and women. After each fight she personally addresses his wounds. Eventually she realizes her attraction to him and Milla and David make love.For the penultimate fight, Kaden arranges for the release of an international serial killer named Brutus Jackson, which leads Logan to believe that Kaden is afraid of David. Before the fight, David tells Milla to contact his brother Sam, who he hasn't seen since the car accident. She does so, but Sam doesn't seem to want to hear from David. David defeats Brutus in brutal fight, and Logan is distressed. Logan has a doctor create a serum to inject into David, which will slow him down and make him an easy victim for Kaden in their fight.Large crowds watch online as Kaden initially pummels David, but much to Logan's surprise, David begins to gain the heavy advantage. As they fight, it is revealed through flash backs that "David Lord" is the assumed named of a secret government agent who was specifically sent to infiltrate The Deathgames. The phone call to "Sam" was in order to alert his superior, Agent McCarty (James Remar) about his location via phone tracing. It is also revealed that Milla secretly switched Logan's serum with a simple saline solution prior to the fight. A group of soldiers invade the facility and arrest Milla, Kaneko, and Kawaii. Filled with rage after defeating Kaden, David hunts down Logan and corners him in a stockroom. As David is about to strike the deadly blow, soldiers arrive, snapping David out of his murderous fury. Logan escapes.Agent McCarty consoles David as he deals with the fact that he had to kill so many people and assures him that Logan will be caught. Milla apologizes to David as she is escorted away, and McCarty assures David that she is in good hands.

Review: Men are forced to fight to the death for an eager internet audience, but the game's most recent recruit may pose a threat to the system with his unyielding spirit.It's a cliché to even say this sounds familiar, so I won't do that ;)This might've had a chance at being good if it had been made prior to Gladiator, Running Man, Gamer, Rollerball, etc.
Jackson plays the man taking advantage, and although Samuel is usually great, and I would SO like to say "even Samuel's awesomeness couldn't save this film," I actually can't even say that.
His heart just didn't seem in it, and for that I can not blame him too much, as the material just isn't worthy of his efforts.I'm not sure what exactly got Mr. Jackson stuck with this job, but I have a feeling it was a reluctant favor to first-time director Jonah Loop, who handled visual effects on a couple of Sam's other films.The film progresses somewhat as one would expect, albeit with a little window dressing.
were on Hollywood par though, and everyone else's acting was actually pretty good (perhaps the rookie director was too intimidated by Jackson to offer him much direction, in comparison).
I guess this is place where I'm supposed to express incredulity over Sam Jackson appearing in this movie, but, really, everyone who watches lots of low budget, direct-to-video movies knows that he'll appear in anything.
He's done some really mediocre (and even bad) 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.
Now, if the fight choreography and stunts were good, I might able to suggest this to fans of direct-to-video B movies inspired by Enter the Dragon and Bloodsport.
Why would you even start to watch something that clearly states in the synopsis "men fight to the death for the entertainment of the online masses."*Shakes head* I don't know....
But if you like your films violent and bloody you will love this!If you don't like violent movies definitely give this one a miss.Also, I thought Kellan Lutz (known for The Twilight Saga) did a great job as the main character, and gave it his all.And I officially have a new crush after watching Katia Winter in this, who actually gets naked in this...
From the evil villainess's change of heart that would rival the idiocy of the Baroness falling for Duke, to the terrible montage glossing over the more interesting looking fight scenes, the movie robs the viewer of any entertainment, despite the pornographic violence and the T&A.Sam Jackson knocks it out the park with his contemptuous performance.
Bad characters/actors, fights with Galons of gore or spoiled Facebook generation who were enjoying and laughing when they saw blood all over their screens.
Sure, some things were pretty stupid like that an infamous mass murderer wouldn't have more security or that you cannot possibly survive the amount beating the main character receives.I liked the movie but unfortunately it was too average.
Jackson gives us a typical villain and Kellan Lutz gives us the usual hero, nothing special on that front.I liked Daniel Dae Kim's character but he had a too small a role.
There are lots of people who die but I did not think I really cared it was unfortunate and something that they could have worked more with.This is by no means comparable to Hunger Games/BR, but give it a shot if you just want some pretty OK entertainment..
Most American men will be pleased.The film opens with a hokey-looking gladiator fight being viewed by various people around the world.
David finds himself seduced by a hot British lady, played by Katia Winter, who will no doubt find herself on the "watch list" of many young men, as she is gorgeous,a good actress,and apparently very willing to do full-frontal nudity.
Nothing wrong with helping people out, and he is actually IN the movie, unlike many "celebrity cameo" parts in modern films where the big name only appears in one or two scenes.The fight scenes are a mixed bag.
The first fight looks a little odd, but then you realize that even "in the movie" they are meant to look a little odd, since they are filmed in a green screen room and then given fake backgrounds.
References to other movies and TV shows, including a direct reference to "Spartacus", as well as a hilarious "Office Space" moment with a twist, really help remind the viewer that this movie is ultimately meant to be fun.The main character, Kellen Lutz, was a surprise.
She has the perfect "evil Bond girl that turns good" attitude, and I predict we'll be seeing a lot more of her in the future.The director, Jonah Loop, is a veteran special effects producer on many big movies.
The plot is...take a guy with no family, force him to fight and kill for his freedom while the evil creator watches.
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.
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.
Jackson.) As he fights for survival, Lord hatches a cunning plan to break free and bring down Logan's brutal empire.Samuel L.
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.
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.
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 .
Like a startlingly large amount of movies I watch, this is about an underground fighting tournament.
Casting Samuel L Jackson and Kellan Lutz seemed like a good cast for an action flick but when the production is C grade the movie will turn out to be an outer trash too.
Kate Winter is exotic and kind of the only actor in the movie who acted good.
A life long Samuel Jackson fan I think I would have been unhappy had I missed out on this film and the vast majority of Arena is not about him.
Some of the fight scenes could have lasted longer, but where they lack in time they make up for in both gore and sheer brutality.I HOPE YOU ENJOY WATCHING IT AS MUCH AS I DID..
A guy who loses his wife and unborn son in accident is kidnapped and brought in to fight in an online death game, where he fight against overwhelming odds.The storyline was so pointless and stupid that the only thing keeping the movie anywhere near afloat is the fight scenes and the overall stupidity of it all as it becomes a farce.
If you want to pass some time watching a pretty good "b" flick about a man fighting an evil bigger than himself in a way only "b" movie heroes can do it, and a bad dude played by Samuel L Jackson in a way only Samuel L Jackson can slam it, with plenty of action, fighting and winner satisfaction, then this is the movie for your free time.Your review does not contain enough lines - the minimum length for reviews is 10 lines of text.Your review does not contain enough lines - the minimum length for reviews is 10 lines of text.Your review does not contain enough lines - the minimum length for reviews is 10 lines of text.Your review does not contain enough lines - the minimum length for reviews is 10 lines of text..
Watched this DVD because it has a good cast: Samuel L Jackson, Kellan Lutz and I am a fan of Nina Dobrev.
Kellan this is not the way to build a career.People are captured and forced to fight to the death for online entertainment.
Great fun if you want to see a movie with lots of fighting and blood.
This was a damn entertaining movie for the guy who loves fighting films.
I know when I turn on a fighting movie I don't want to experience deep emotions and have myself a good cry.
We also learn a bit more about his background as the story unravels.Among underground fighting ring movies, Arena is one of the better ones.
Usually movies like these are happy to have some caricature of a villain and some good guy, that's it.
Samuel Jackson has found his way into some pretty weird films at times, this is also a weird one and rides the wave from Death Race and other similar film, that has the world watch (over the internet, from a secret location of course) violent events for money and thereby either be criminals that does it for their own sick minds sake or be government funded and do it for the greater good of man.Here Samuel is a bit twisted, he arrange these fight for profit, kidnap them, brain wash them and make them fight, either for their own survival or for the sake of family and friends.
It takes a few twist and turns on the way, and there are some gory fighting scenes, but the acting never gets really good and the film is a bit wage all-in-all..
He has to fight for his freedom, or escape, or do something like that.Let's face it, the only reason this got made is because Samuel L Jackson is in it.
The people taken are all men in excellent shape, who believe they're about to have sex with a beautiful woman, when they are kidnapped, and forced to fight to the death on a highly popular internet site.
Jackson is one of these guys who is just at a point in his career where everything he does is worth watching, and in a relatively small role, he really adds a lot to this film.
At first glance at the DVD cover and at the plot summary ARENA sounds like it could have all the makings of a good action movie but unfortunately that wasn't the case when I finished watching it.The good things about it is the cinematography and the acting, the bad thing about it is the action sequences which are fight scenes with poor choreography and camera effects involving a lot of flashes, quick cuts and slow motion for when our would be fighters strike a nice pose.As other reviewers have pointed out the plot isn't very original or very good but oddly enough the cast pull off good performances, Samuel L.
Jackson obviously must have done this just for fun because he looked like he had a field day with his role and yet he gives a good performance like always so he definitely didn't slack despite the material he was given and Kellan Luts despite being a bit stiff, is okay as the lead.Overall, in terms of a good action movie this film doesn't deliver what you would hope for when you read the plot summary, therefore action fans are likely to be disappointed..
There is no real plot other than something that's been used as a sub-plot in television 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?
Maybe i had high expectations but then, this is the kind of movie we have seen like a hundred times in the past years...
Jackson is the director of all of this, and our hero, Lutz, will tell him he will kill him at the very end.
Then, Lutz goes on fight like 8 people before he gets to the executionner, the guy that killed people that are KOed. It's basic formula, it's poor acting, bad special effects and horrible fight sequences...
this is NOT about that.This is about fights, about blood, is like a classic 80's or mid 90's action/martial arts movie.
With a pretty much obvious script (altough in the final 20 minutes there's a twist I didn't expect), and the fighters being "ordinary people" I think is a pretty good movie to watch and have fun.
who is seen fighting in a bar by people working for the main bad guy...
We have seen all this MANY times before, except maybe for a minor plot twist towards the end.The movie might have been saved by exciting fights and professional treatment, but the movie is lacking in those areas as well.
It would seem that at the end , the directors where more interested in a sequel then in providing viewers with a really good movie.
Yes, this is bad.A man loses his wife, starts drinking, gets into a barfight, gets kidnapped and is forced to perform on an internet reality death show.
In the end back up rives and the fights are shut down and the bad guy that ran it all gets away leaving room for squeal (Samuel Jackson is not going to let himself get killed off lol).
Over all a pretty darn good movie and definitively worth watching.
Right in the first few minutes, we're subjected to CGI-based fights, super-irritating frat characters that we only see from one angle as they watch their precious deathfights, and we discover, to our dismay, that our main hero, the guy we're all supposed to get behind, is a man named Kellan Lutz.
Basically a hybrid of The Running Man, Death Race, Gamer, and blood sport, all hosted by the friendly, maniacal Jackson on autopilot.The story isn't very good, but it involves someone who was in Twilight, his wife gets killed (who is pregnant), and he kills them all.Take your eyes away from the screen for an instant, and he's soon in this sort of gladiatorial game where people watching on the web, decide if the assailants get killed or survive.If this guy can survive ten bouts, he's a free man.It's a highly un-original movie, with not many saving graces.The action looks like it's taken from the worst parts of '300', and the acting isn't up to much.The saving grace is Jackson, who despite being on autopilot, is always watchable.Thismovie is pointless, and suffers from the crime of being downright boring..
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 the fights 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 part were way better then i was expecting too ) , the acting was like what you expect to see in most TV series ( which is more then good enough for those kind of movies )and ***** somewhat a spoiler****** i personally liked the turn of events near the end , make some sense out of the fight with the white samurai ( guess most people complaining about that fight did nt saw the movie in full ) .If you know what you re getting into and don t expect you re brain to have much of a workout it s defensively worth it .8/10 as a DVD rental.
The main actor who I had never seen before handled himself quite nicely and the fight sequences although a bit cheesy and unbelievable were quite entertaining to watch.
although the acting is decent, the fighting is actually pretty good and the blood effects were well done.
this movie had some good potential and some exciting scenes but towards the end, it just seems to go down.6/10i would have probably given it a five, if it didn't have Johnny Messner and Samuel Jackson, those two are good actors.